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THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


Zbc  E)e\)ir0  BMai^grounb. 


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"HIS  SATANIC  MAJESTY  MAKES  A  lAOyK."—Page  igj. 


The 

Devil's  Playground 

%  Stors  of  tbe  "Milb  IRortbwest 
By  JOHN  MACKIE 


Illustrated  by  A.  Hencke 


FREDERICK  A.  STOKES  COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS 


Copyright,  1894,  by 
FREDERICK  A.  STOKES  COMPANY 


7K 

G02. 

^      , 

CONTENTS.     V\\%Lc}. 

CHAP. 

1 

?AGE. 

I, 

"THE   HUSKS  THAT   THE    SWINE 

DID    EAT  "      . 

7 

II. 

"  COMING    EVENTS     CAST    THEIR 

SHADOWS   BEFORE" 

17 

III. 

"  WHAT   CHANCE   HAS     BROUGHT 

YOU  HERE?" 

33 

IV. 

HER    HUSBAND 

48 

V. 

BRUIN    AT    BAY 

68 

VI. 

"I    don't     THINK     she's   HAPPY 

WITH    HIM  " 

78 

VII. 

THE   ROUND-UP      . 

88 

VIII. 

AGAINST   TIME   AND    FIRE 

103 

IX. 

"  CURSE    HER    FOR   HER   HEART- 

LESSNESS!" 

no 

X. 

DEEPER   IN   THE  TOILS 

123 

XI. 

"  HANDS  UP,"  AND   THE  NORTH- 

WEST   MOUNTED    POLICE      . 

135 

XII. 

"  LIKE   A   WORM    l'   THE   BUD  " 

156 

XIII. 

THAT     LAND      WHERE      NOBODY 

LIVES 

165 

XIV. 

WHERE       THE      DEVIL      AMUSES 

HIMSELF  . 

175 

XV. 

HIS   SATANIC     MAJESTY      MAKES 

A    MOVE 

186 

XVI. 

A    BLIZZARD 

201 

XVII. 

THE   GRIM   TWIN   SHADOWS 

210 

XVIII. 

WHICH   WINS  ?   . 

225 

XIX. 

CHECKMATED 

240 

2072383 


THE  DEVIL'S  PLAYGROUND, 


CHAPTER  I. 

"THE  HUSKS  THAT   THE  SWINE  DID   EAT." 

"  The  greatest  mistake  a  man  can  make," 
philosophized  the  Sage,  "  is  to  fall  in  love  with  a 
married  woman.  Of  course  I  never  did  anything 
of  the  sort  myself ;  but  I've  watched  fellows  get 
that  way  and  reckoned  they  were  to  be  pitied. 
I  call  it  a  mistake  ;  because  I  don't  believe  that 
any  one  in  his  sober  senses,  when  he  first  feels 
himself  attracted  by  his  neighbor's  wife, 
dreams  of  allowing  such  a  suicidal  condition  of 
things  to  get  the  upper  hand  of  him.  But 
what  he  does  not  want  to  do,  and  what  he 
eventually  does,  are  only  separated  by  a  matter 
of  sentiment  to  begin  with,  and  amount  to  the 
same  thing  in  the  end.  If  he  is  one  of  the  un- 
fortunate ones — all  heart  and  no  head — he  drifts 
into  it  like  a  man  who  has  been  fooling  about 
in  a  small  boat  above  Niagara  Falls,  and  whose 
fate  is  a  foregone  conclusion.  The  first  step 
in  this  direction  generally  begins  with  a  mere 
mutual  attraction  ;  the  next,  some  fancied 
affinity.     Then  comes  the  inevitable  '  something 


8  Zbe  WeviVe  ttilaBgroun&, 

stronger '  until  the  last  state  of  that  man  is 
worse  than  the  first,  and  the  finish  up  is  either 
a  most  unpleasant  racket,  or — at  least  some- 
thing that  is  equally  unsatisfactory.  It  is  one 
of  those  things  in  human  affairs  that  a  fellow 
can't  take  philosophically." 

The  speaker  was  a  fresh-faced  youth,  as 
yet  with  only  the  callowest  kind  of  down  upon 
his  upper  lip.  There  was  the  unmistakable 
stamp  of  gentle  birth  upon  his  jface,  and  the 
tell-tale  one  upon  his  personal  attire,  that  plainly 
spoke  of  having  "  come  through  the  mill."  In 
fact,  so  far  as  the  outward  appearance  of  both 
himself  and  his  companion  were  concerned,  no 
one  could  have  told  them  from  a  couple  of 
ordinary  laborers  on  the  tramp.  Their  clothes 
were  of  the  commonest  description  ;  and  to  tell 
the  truth,  there  lurked  a  suspicion  about  their 
linen  of  an  absence  of  soap  and  water.  The 
elder  of  the  two  was  a  tall,  spare  man  of  per- 
haps a  trifle  over  thirty  years  of  age  or  so,  who, 
despite  his  commonplace  and  not  too  well 
cared  for  attire,  would  have  attracted  attention 
anywhere.  He  was  dark,  self-possessed,  and 
alert-looking ;  and  there  was  that  touch  of  devil- 
may-care  good  nature  upon  his  not  unpleasant 
face,  that  stamped  him  as  one  of  the  rolling- 
stone  species.  One  who  by  some  accident  or 
other,  had  fallen  or  drifted  from  a  better  state 
of  things  into  an  easily  borne  condition  of  hard- 
upness.  One  who  had  missed  his  vocation  in 
life,  but    whose  talents  were  versatile.     One 


**  XLbc  Ibusfts  tbat  tbc  Swine  DID  lEat."  9 

without  any  particular  aim  or  object  in  view  ; 
for  whom  poverty  had  no  particular  terrors,  or 
riches  power  to  stimulate ;  and  who  could 
shoulder  a  pick,  or  drive  a  pen  across  paper 
with  equal  equanimity.  Such  a  man  was  the 
exclusive  and  patient  audience  that  the  younger 
one  commanded. 

They  sat  with  their  backs  against  a  log  upon 
the  banks  of  a  creek,  and  lazily  smoked  their 
pipes.  Either  the  keen,  dry  air  of  the  Canadian 
Northwest  had  exercised  a  somniferous  effect 
(to  which  prairie  air  is  conducive)  upon  the  elder 
of  the  two ;  or  perhaps  it  was  the  sage  remarks 
that  fell  from  the  lips  of  his  youthful  but  ex- 
perienced companion,  for  several  times  his  head 
drooped  forwards,  then  was  jerked  as  suddenly 
backwards.  Perhaps  after  this,  for  another 
twenty  seconds  or  so,  he  would  catch  the  drift 
of  his  companion's  remarks,  and  would  listen 
with  some  vague  consciousness  of  being 
amused.  Dick  Travers  was  evidently  a  good 
listener ;  he  seldom  interrupted,  and  the  Sage 
proceeded — 

"  I  remember  a  case  where  a  Platonic,  milk- 
and-water  sort  of  chap  became  spooney  on  a 
married  woman  ;  but  his  platonics  took  the  in- 
evitable turn.  He  dangled  after  her  for  years  ; 
took  to  writing  poetry  and  all  that  sort  of 
thing :  neglected  his  business  in  consequence, 
and  finally  went  to  the  dogs.  And  the  best, 
or  worst,  of  it  was  that  the  woman  didn't  care 
a  rap  for  him  after  all !  " 


10  Cbe  Devil's  plasgrounD. 

At  this  point  of  the  narrative  the  elder,  who 
had  a  minute  before  nearly  jerked  his  head 
off,  caught  the  drift  of  the  Sage's  remarks 
and  queried — 

"  Petrarch  ?  " 

"  Oh,  Petrarch  be  hanged  !  "  shortly  contended 
the  Sage,  with  an  uncomfortable  sensation  that 
his  senior  was  chaffing  him.  "  I  told  you  I 
knew  the  man." 

"  Ah  !  poor  old  chap  ;  I  didn't  drop  to  it  at 
first.  How  old  are  you  now  ?  "  asked  the  other 
with  an  irritating  air  of  sympathy. 

"  Twenty-one  in  November,"  began  the  Sage 
unsuspectingly,  and  stopped  abruptly.  "  But 
hang  it,  man,  I'm  not  the  fellow  any  more  than 
Petrarch  was  !  " 

Then,  becoming  conscious  of  something 
incongruous  in  the  association,  he  laughed  in  a 
silent,  irritated  sort  of  way  to  himself,  and 
for  a  few  minutes  relapsed  into  a  discreet  silence. 
But  the  Sage  was  no  fool,  and  despite  his  weak- 
ness for  airing  his  views  upon  life  and  things 
in  general,  often  hit  upon  some  subtle  truths 
which  might  have  been  evolved  from  a  more 
colossal  experience  than  his  could  possibly  have 
ever  been. 

The  day  was  close  and  sultry  :  the  valley  in 
which  they  were  shut  out  any  breath  of  air  which 
might  be  straying  away  above  them  on  the 
higher  lands.  The  creek  had  dried  up  to  an 
almost  imperceptible  shadow  of  its  former  self, 
but  still  kept  murmuring  over  the  rocks  and 


"Cbe  Ibusfts  tbat  tbe  Swlnc  DID  Bat."  n 

gravel  in  a  subdued  and  expostulating  sort  of 
way.  Up  on  the  bench  (as  the  plateaus  are 
called  in  North  America)  it  was  little  better  ;  in 
fact  the  air  was  if  anything  more  suffocating 
than  in  the  couUee.  From  the  north  and  east 
there  rose  a  range  of  hills,  whose  rugged  sides 
were  covered  with  timber.  But  to  the  south 
and  west  the  prairie  rolled  away  in  a  series  of 
wave-like  buttes  and  couUes  ;  only  broken  by 
an  uncertain,  thin,  green  streak  of  timber,  which 
fringed  and  marked  the  course  of  the  creek 
upon  which  they  were  camped.  There  was  no 
sign  of  human  habitation  on  that  prairie.  It 
seemed,  in  spite  of  its  rich-looking  pastures 
as  desolate  as  any  desert.  Had  it  not  been  for 
a  few  straggling  head  of  horses  and  cattle  hard 
by — slowly  making  for  the  creek,  as  if  they 
found  the  heat  of  the  prairie  unendurable,  and 
could  stand  it  no  longer — it  might  have  passed 
for  a  veritable  No  Man's  Land :  a  country  in 
which  nobody  lived.  But  perhaps  the  pre- 
dominant feature  of  the  scene,  and  that  which 
impressed  the  beholder  more  powerfully  than 
any  peculiarity  of  either  earth  or  sky,  was  the 
silence  of  this  land.  It  was  a  silence  that  made 
itself  felt :  it  was  portent  with  a  sense  of 
loneliness.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  faint  mur- 
muring of  the  shadowy  creek,  the  whole  scene 
might  have  belonged  to  some  lunar  landscape — 
some  dead  world  in  which  no  note  or  sound 
ever  broke  the  eternal  silence  of  death. 

"  I    say,  Dick,"    the  younger  man  suddenly 


12  Zbc  Devil's  iplasgtounD. 

exclaimed,  "  has  it  not  struck  you  that  we're 
getting  a  little  further  from  civilization  than 
we  bargained  for !  They  told  us  at  Walsh 
that  we  were  sure  to  strike  a  ranche  of  some 
sort  out  here,  where  they'd  want  hands  for 
sonie  coming  '  round-up '  or  other.  We've 
walked  fifteen  miles  or  more  this  morning 
already  ;  but  if  there  are  any  ranches  I  think 
they  must  be  gopher  ones,  or  where  they  rear 
prairie-chickens."' 

"  Well,  yes,  I  suppose  it  has  struck  me," 
answered  the  other  unconcernedly,  as  if  it  were 
a  matter  of  no  particular  importance.  "  I  rather 
imagined  a  couple  of  hours  ago  or  so  that  we 
had  taken  the  wrong  trail ;  but  I  didn't  think  it 
worth  while  mentioning  the  fact.  You  see, 
Jack,  to  quote  your  own  words,  '  there's  noth- 
ing like  taking  things  philosophically.'  I've 
been  doing  it  these  last  four  or  five  years; 
actual  experience  has  only  gone  further  to  con- 
vince me  that  it's  the  best  way  after  all.  Why 
don't  you  practise  what  you  preach.?  " 

"Oh,  hang  it  all,  you  know,  Dick!"  an- 
swered the  Sage,  "  that's  expecting  too  much  of 
a  fellow  to  practise  and  preach  both !  You 
surely  don't  want  me  to  be  inconsistent  ?  One 
would  think,  to  listen  to  you,  that  I  was  anything 
but  practical.  Now  I  would  humbly  venture  to 
remark  that  I  am  eminently  so ;  and  to  prove 
it  I  will  point  out  that  though  we've  had  a 
good  meal — that's  to  say,  as  good  as  we're  in 
the  habit  of  having  in  this  vagabond  existence 


"  (Tbe  IbusRs  tbat  tbe  Swine  NO  Eat,"  13 

of  ours — we  have  not  got  quite  enough  for 
another.  A  couple  of  sailor's  biscuits — felici- 
tously called  '  hard  tack  '—and  a  quarter  of  a 
pound  of  cold  bacon,  is  all  we  have  left  in 
the  commissariat  department.  Moreover,  '  the 
night  Cometh  when  no  man  can  work,'  and  the 
shade  of  a  cotton-wood  tree  is  a  poor  apology 
for  a  blanket  in  a  climate  like  this.  By  Jove, 
Dick,  don't  you  know,  I  often  feel  like  the  chap 
in  the  parable,  who  filled  his  belly  with  the  husks 
that  the  swine  did  eat." 

Poor  young  Sage  !  But  you  are  not  the  first 
gently-nurtured  youth  who  has  felt  the  same 
thing, — Australia,  Africa,  Canada  are  teeming 
with  such  as  you. 

The  Sage  had  broken  off  abruptly  in  his 
unwonted  speech.  To  do  him  justice,  he  was 
not  in  the  habit  of  allowing  his  surroundings 
to  affect  his  spirits.  But  there  are  times,  which 
come  even  to  the  most  hardened,  when  the  '  still, 
small  voice  '  within  us  will  not  be  stilled,  and 
plays  the  part  of  an  avenging  Nemesis  to  our 
lives. 

The  Dick  referred  to  glanced  suddenly  and 
sharply  at  his  companion  ;  and  something  very 
like  pity  showed  for  an  instant  upon  his  face. 
Then,  as  if  he  had  something  disagreeable  to 
say,  he  stared  right  ahead  of  him,  and  tried 
to  infuse  a  certain  amount  of  hardness  into 
his  voice  as  he  said — 

"  Now,  Jack,  you're  talking  sense,  and  touch 
upon  a  point  that's  been  on  my  mind  for  some 


14  tTbe  Devil's  IPlaggrounD. 

time  back.  I  think  you  are  wasting  your  time. 
You  never  did  anything  that  in  the  Old  Country 
you  need  be  particularly  ashamed  of — neither 
did  I  for  that  matter,  only  that  I  was  a  cursed 
fool.  You  have  got  a  good  home  to  go  to,  and 
here  you  are  playing  the  very  deuce  with  your 
expectations  ;  and  all  for  what  ?  Simply  for 
the  privilege  of  leading  a  vagabond  existence 
like  this ;  of  wandering  from  one  place  to  an- 
other, and  having  to  submit  to  all  sorts  of 
hardships  and  discomforts.  You  were  with  me 
on  the  diggings  at  Shingle  Springs,  and  you 
know  what  killing  work  that  was.  We  har- 
vested down  in  Wyoming ;  and  you  remember 
how  you  said  that  another  month  like  that 
would  make  an  old  man  of  you.  Now  I  don't 
see  that  our  prospects  are  likely  to  improve. 
You've  had  a  row  with  your  people  because  you 
wouldn't  stop  at  home  and  become  a  respect- 
able member  of  society ;  when  all  that  was 
asked  of  you  was  to  sit  in  an  office  for  a  few 
hours  every  day.  Take  my  advice.  Jack,  pocket 
your  pride  and  go  home ;  write  and  tell  them 
you're  coming,  and  follow  the  letter  up— de- 
pend upon  it,  they  will  be  glad  to  see  you.  I 
dare  say  I'll  miss  you  now  and  again,  but  fancy 
that  after  a  bit  I'll  tind  it  rather  a  relief  to  be 
rid  of  you." 

••  Dick,"  said  the  other,  staring  in  a  de- 
liberate fashion  at  the  opposite  bank,  "I  be- 
lieve you  do  want  to  get  rid  of  me.  I  believe 
there  are  lots  of  billets  you  would  have  taken  if 
I  had  not  been  saddled  to  you  !  " 


**  Zbc  Ibushs  tbat  tbe  Swine  D(D  Sat."  15 

"  Stop  that  d d  silly  talk  !  "  said  Travers, 

rather  inconsistently,  considering  what  he  had 
just  said  a  minute  before. 

"  Well  then,  Dick,"  said  the  younger  man, 
taking  no  notice  of  his  companion's  seeming 
display  of  temper,  and  proceeding  as  if  he  had 
suddenly  caught  a  glimpse  of  sunshine  through 
a  fog,  "  why  don't  you  practice  what  you  preach, 
and  go  home  too  ?  " 

"  Because,  lad,"  was  the  reply,  in  a  tone 
that  showed  he  did  not  exactly  relish  the 
subject,  but  with  an  assumed  jauntiness  in  his 
speech,  "  I  could  not  better  myself  by  so  doing. 
Besides,  to  play  the  ro/£  of  the  prodigal  son, 
argues  a  home  to  go  to,  and  a  father  or  mother, 
as  the  case  may  be,  who  is  willing  to  let  by- 
gones be  bygones.  Now  there  is  no  haven  like 
that  for  me.  If  I  did  arrive  in  the  Mersey  to- 
morrow, and  wanted  to  telegraph  ahead  the 
orthodox  '  fatted  calf  for  one,'  there  is  no  one  I 
could  address  it  to.  No,  lad,  the  old  sod  could 
awaken  nothing  but  vain  regrets.  I've  made 
my  bed  and  must  lie  on  it." 

And  here,  as  if  offering  an  involuntary  protest 
to  his  jaunty  form  of  speech,  he  sprang  to  his 
feet  and  paced  uneasily  up  and  down  for  a  few 
minutes,  with  his  hands  thrust  deep  in  his 
trousers  pockets. 

The  Sage,  otherwise  known  as  Jack  Holmes, 
eyed  him  strangely. 

"  I've  stirred  him  up  again,"  he  muttered 
to  himself.     "  Poor   old   Dick  I    he    has    been 


i6  Q;be  Devil's  iplaggrounD. 

pretty  badly  hit  at  some  time  or  other,  and 
now  he  must  walk  it  off."  Then  aloud  he 
said,  "  I  say,  Dick,  don't  you  think  we'd  better 
get  under  weigh  ?  It  must  be  three  o'clock  at 
least ;  let's  take  the  trail  going  up  the  creek. 
I  fancy  we  are  bound  to  strike  that  English- 
man's ranche  they  were  talking  about,  and  we 
can  get  shelter  for  the  night  anyhow,  if  we 
can't  get  work.  By  Jove  !  I  believe  we're  going 
to  have  a  thunder  storm — do  you  see  that  big, 
black  cloud  }  What  !  you'd  rather  not  go  to 
any  Englishman's }  Well,  as  I'm  a  sinner, 
you're  a  queer  one  !  " — Travers  had,  with  a  pre- 
occupied air,  dissented  from  his  companion's 
proposition. — "  Phew  !  how  stifling  and  sultry  it 
has  got  all  of  a  sudden.     Let's  march." 

They  picked  up  their  belongings,  which, 
like  the  enterprising  prodigal's  in  the  parable, 
could  not  have  been  of  any  particular  inconven- 
ience to  the  carrier,  and,  turning  their  faces  up 
the  creek,  trudged  on  their  way. 


CHAPTER  II. 

"COMING    EVENTS     CAST     THEIR      SHADOWS 
BEFORE." 

It  was  a  large,  roomy,  two-storied  log- 
house,  with  a  wing  at  the  back,  and  weather- 
boarded  on  the  outside.  In  Ontario,  or  any- 
other  part  of  the  world,  it  would  have  been 
considered  only  a  very  ordinary  place  of  abode. 
But  up  here  in  the  Cypress  Hills,  where  you 
might  travel  for  twenty  miles  and  not  see  a 
house,  it  seemed  a  veritable  palace.  It  had 
actually  a  French  window  looking  to  the  south, 
which  suggested  a  higher  civilization  than  one 
would  have  expected  to  meet  with,  in  such  an 
out-of-the-way  part  of  the  world.  But  per- 
haps it  was  the  peculiar  situation  of  this  house, 
that  was  its  particular  charm.  It  nestled  at 
the  foot  of  a  steep,  savage-looking,  pine-crested 
crag,  which  here  and  there  was  streaked  with 
warm  dashes  of  pink — the  work  of  Mother 
Nature  ;  a  fringe  of  tall,  dark  pines  behind  and 
on  one  side  of  it,  and  a  lawn-like  stretch  of 
softest  prairie  in  front,  which  sloped  gradually 
down  to  a  little  lake.  Away  to  the  south  rolled 
a  vast,  billowy  ocean  of  prairie  of  a  dun  color, 


i8  ^be  ©evil's  ©la^grounJ). 

which  in  the  far  distance  became  so  undefined 
and  spectre-like,  that  it  was  hard  to  determine 
the  horizon  hne :  so  gradual  was  the  change 
from  earth  to  sky,  and  such  an  air  of  dreamy 
unreality  seemed  to  pervade  it. 

It  was  a  spot  for  a  house  that  none  but  an 
artist  could  have  chosen,  and  the  one  who  had 
chosen  it  was  an  artist  and  a  woman.  Her 
husband,  Tom  Tredennis,  was  an  easy-going 
specimen  of  the  sport-loving  Briton.  He  had 
reached  the  mature  age  of  seven-and-thirty 
without  ever  having  known  what  it  was  to  earn  a 
day's  bread,  being  well  endowed  with  the 
world's  goods,  when  one  fine  morning,  several 
months  before  this  notice  of  him,  through  the 
death  of  a  younger  brother,  he  discovered  that 
he  was  the  possessor  of  a  cattle  ranche  in  the 
Northwest  Territories  of  Canada.  This 
younger  brother— whose  existence  had  nearly 
escaped  his  recollection— had  been  an  anomaly.' 
in  the  family— a  worker.  He  had  by  a  certain 
amount  of  natural  ability  and  perseverance, 
built  up  a  ranche  and  a  herd  of  cattle,  the  brand 
of  which  was  known  far  and  wide.  Tom  was 
long-headed  enough  to  know,  that  unless  he 
himself  took  a  journey  across  the  Atlantic  to 
look  after  the  property,  he  would  be  the  loser  by 
the  omission.  He  suddenly  recollected  that  in 
one  of  his  very  rare  letters  home,  his  brother 
had  spoken  about  the  bears  that  came  down 
from  the  mountains  in  the  spring  and  killed  his 
calves.     He    also    remembered  having    heard 


"  Coming  Bvcnts  Cast  SbaDovvs."     19 

from  some  other  "  rolling-stone  "  who  had  been 
out  there,  of  the  bands  of  antelope  and  black- 
tail  that  roamed  over  these  hills,  and  that 
settled  the  matter.  He  suddenly  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  poor  Hector's  affairs  must  be 
wound  up  by  him  alone,  were  it  only  out  of 
respect  for  that  poor  brother  he  had  seen  and 
thought  so  little  about.  A  good  excuse  for  a 
prolonged  sporting  tour  was  what  he  had  long 
wanted ;  he  had  one  now.  And  then  another 
difficulty  suddenly  confronted  him.  He  some- 
how was  not  remarkable  for  forethought.  There 
was  a  contingency  he  had  not  provided  against, 
and  that  was  his  wife. 

A  few  years  before  he  had  been  the  most 
exemplary  of  lovers ;  he  had  an  easy-going  self- 
assurance  about  him,  that  carried  him  trium- 
phantly through  love,  as  it  generally  did  through 
all  other  things.  He  had  fancied  himself  genu- 
inely in  love  with  the  girl  whom  he  afterwards 
made  his  wife,  and  who  was  at  least  twelve 
years  his  junior.  When  he  married  her  out  of 
that  house  where  she  lived — being  an  orphan — 
with  a  straight-laced  uncle  and  aunt  who  had  a 
large  family  of  their  own,  he  fancied  he  had 
done  a  rather  sensible  thing,  and  something  that 
he  would  never  regret.  Perhaps  he  had  never 
regretted  it ;  but  it  had  sometimes  suggested  it- 
self to  him,  that  his  wife  had  not  been  quite  as 
much  in  love  with  him,  as  he  had  been  with  her. 
In  fact,  when  on  that  momentous  occasion  he 
had  (with  only  a  little  less  of  his  self-assurance 


20  ^be  ©evil's  ff»lai5grounD. 

than  usual)  asked  her  to  be  his  wife,  she  had 
told  him  as  much. 

And  then  he  had  made  a  little  speech  which 
is  as  old  as  the  hills,  and  which  is  unlike  most 
speeches  made  in  the  pages  of  fiction,  in  that  it 
frequently  finds  utterance  in  actual  life. 

"  I  can  hardly  expect,"  he  had  said,  "  that  one 
like  you,  can  fancy  all  at  once  an  ordinary  sort 
of  fellow  like  me.  But  this  I  think,  that  if  you 
like  me  just  a  very  little,  you  will  come  to  care 
for  me  through  time,  just  as  much  as  if  you  had 
allowed  your  heart  to  run  away  with  your 
head." 

And  the  high-spirited  girl  consented  to  be 
his  wife,  not  that  by  so  doing  she  would  escape 
from  a  home  where  she  was  anything  but  happy, 
to  one  of  luxury  and  ease,  but  partly  because 
she  had  a  genuine  admiration  for  the  man  who 
did  not  insult  her  by  holding  out  these  advan- 
tages before  her,  and  who,  if  anything,  rather 
underestimated  any  redeeming  qualities  he  was 
possessed  of.  It  was  about  this  time  that  the 
irrepressible  Mrs.  Grundy  hinted,  that  the  real 
reason  of  her  casting  in  her  lot  with  one  whose 
tastes  were  so  dissimilar  to  hers,  arose  from 
pure  motives  of  pique  ;  an  old  lover  who  had  gone 
abroad  was  about  to  marry  some  one  else.  But 
there  was,  perhaps,  just  as  much  truth  in  this 
as  in  any  of  Mrs.  Grundy's  other  statements — 
at  least  so  far  as  Mrs.  Grundy's  actual  knowl- 
edge extended. 

For  some  time  after  his  marriage,  Tom  Tre- 


*'  Coming  Events  Cast  Sba^ows."    21 

dcnnis  was  perhaps  not  without  a  curious  vein 
of  speculation  as  to  why  his  wife  should  be  pos- 
sessed with  such  a  feverish  desire  for  change, 
and  seemed  to  dread  anything  Uke  the  duhiess 
of  provincial  life.  Without  having  any  particular 
tastes  in  common,  they  pulled  together  as  well 
as  most  newly-married  couples  do.  For  a 
while  he  denied  himself  many  of  his  accustomed 
pursuits,  to  bring  her  nearer  to  him  than  he  felt 
she  was ;  but  gradually  and  imperceptibly  he 
lapsed  back  into  his  old  bachelor  ways,  and 
they  drifted  apart.  But  still,  they  never  posi- 
tively clashed.  He  thought  as  much  of  her  as 
ever,  but  it  was  not  in  his  undemonstrative 
nature  to  show  it.  As  for  her,  she  at  least  ad- 
mired him  for  the  many  sterling  qualities  that 
made  up  an  honest  if  not  exactly  a  congenial 
spirit.  However,  much  to  Tom's  surprise  and 
greatly  to  his  relief,  when  he  told  her  of  the 
business  that  would  take  him  away  from  Eng- 
land to  Canada  for  several  months,  and  asked 
her  whether  she  would  prefer  to  rough  it  with 
him  for  that  time  in  the  Northwest,  or  amuse 
herself  the  best  way  she  could  in  England  while 
he  was  away,  she  jumped  at  the  first  alternative, 
and  betrayed  an  eagerness  to  be  off  that 
puzzled  him  not  a  little. 

"  I  am  sick  of  England,"  she  had  said,  "  and 
have  been  pining  for  a  change  like  this  ever  so 
long." 

And,  considering  that  she  had  enjoyed  more 
of    her    share    of  change,  as    enjoyed  by   the 


22  XLbc  Devil's  lPlaBgcoun&. 

average  British  matron  of  the  moneyed  class, 
it  dawned  upon  him  that  he  was  as  far  from 
understanding  her  as  ever.  But  he  suddenly 
recollected  that  he  would  require  an  "  Express  " 
rifle  or  two,  and  here  his  speculations  promptly 
ceased. 

They  came  out  in  the  spring,  and  both  were 
charmed  with  the  fresh  and  peculiar  features 
of  the  Cypress  Hills  and  prairie  country — she 
from  an  artistic  and  picturesque  point  of  view, — 
she  was  an  artist  of  no  mean  promise, — and  he 
from  a  sportsman's  who  had  found  a  mine  of 
wealth  in  fresh  fields.  In  short,  instead  of  sel- 
ling the  ranche,  he  determined  to  keep  it  on. 
There  was  a  good  Scotch  foreman  on  the  place, 
and  it  would  pay  him  handsomely  to  do  so. 
They  could  come  over  and  live  a  month  or 
two  on  it  every  year.  His  wife  chose  the 
site  for  a  new  house,  some  distance  removed 
from  the  old  log  one,  the  corral,  and  other 
buildings.  In  a  month  or  so  the  new  house 
was  run  up ;  and  as  she  had  brought  her  maid 
with  her,  and  easily  procured  from  a  town  bear- 
ing the  picturesque  name  of  "  Medicine-Hat  " 
all  the  help  she  wanted,  and,  with  what  was  of 
more  importance,  plenty  of  money,  she  soon 
had  a  house  that  looked  to  a  certain  degree 
home-like. 

And  now  on  the  day  spoken  of  in  the  first 
chapter  of  this  series  of  events,  when  the  two 
peripatetic  philosophers  were  plodding  wearily 
along  the  trail  in  the  direction  of  this  particular 


*'  Coming  Bvents  Cast  SbaOows."    23 

ranche,  Mrs.  Tredennissat  looking  out  upon  the 
dun-colored  prairie.  A  short  time  before,  the 
heated  waves  of  air  had  been  distorting  it  into 
all  sorts  of  fantastic  shapes.  But  a  huge  bank 
of  clouds  had  rolled  up,  and  there  was  an 
ominous  stillness  in  the  air. 

That  she  had  a  striking  style  of  beauty  her 
greatest  detractors  could  not  but  admit.  She 
could  not  have  been  much  over  twenty-three 
years  of  age  or  so.  She  was  only  an  ordinary 
sized  woman,  but  her  physique  was  perfect,  and 
spoke  of  health  and  training  which  gave  a  more 
queenly  grace  to  the  charm  of  her  well-poised 
head.  A  transparent  freshness  of  complexion 
was  hers,  and  a  wondrous  harmony  of  feature. 
But  these  attributes  alone  could  not  have  dis- 
tinguished her  from  the  general  run  of  women. 
It  was  the  expression  and  character  in  her  face 
that  so  many  of  her  admirers  had  vainly  tried 
to  analyze.  Her  lustrous  and  large  eyes  were 
pregnant  with  a  light  that  betokened  no  ordi- 
nary mind.  It  would  have  been  hard  to  de- 
termine of  what  color  these  eyes  were ;  they 
might  have  been  blue,  or  grey,  or  hazel ;  they 
seemed  to  change  with  every  mood  that  pos- 
sessed the  mind  of  the  owner  for  the  time 
being.  But,  after  all,  there  were  those  who 
said  that  the  expression  in  them  was  not  always 
a  happy  one. 

And  just  then,  perhaps,  they  would  have  been 
justified  in  saying  so.  But  she  was  roused  from 
her  reverie  by  a  prosaic  interruption. 


24  (Tbe  Devtrs  iPla^grounD. 

"  1  want  you  to  catch  on  here,  Chrissie,"  said 
Tom  Tredennis,  her  husband,  dressed  in  a 
rough  tweed  suit,  with  a  gun  barrel  in  his 
hand,  and  a  cleaning  rod  projecting  a  foot  or  so 
from  the  same,  as  he  entered  the  room.  "  You 
see  I  wrapped  too  much  tow  round  this  con- 
founded cleaning  rod,  and  it  has  got  jammed 
fast.  As  next  to  myself  you're  the  strongest 
individual  in  the  house  at  present,  I  thought  I'd 
ask  you  to  pull  against  me." 

He  stopped  opposite  her  and  regarded  her 
smilingly,  as  if  it  were  only  the  most  matter  of 
fact  thing  in  the  world  he  asked  her  to  do.  He 
was  a  good-looking  fellow  enough,  sunburnt, 
bearded,  and  with  a  frank,  honest  expression  on 
his  face,  but  with  no  marked  expression  or 
feature  that  would  have  distinguished  him  from 
the  average  good-looking  and  healthy,  well- 
born, sport-loving  Briton. 

She  turned  from  the  window.  "  Then  you 
must  let  me  get  my  back  to  the  wall,  Tom. 
You're  such  a  giant — for  if  it  should  give  all  of 
a  sudden " 

She  smiled  pleasantly  as  she  poised  herself 
and  caught  the  cleaning-rod  in  a  business-like 
fashion. 

"  Now,  then,  twist  to  the  right,  and  I'll  twist 
to  the  left,"  she  said. 

A  short,  sharp  tug-of-war,  and  in  another 
second  the  refractory  rod  was  safely  extracted. 

"  Well  done  !  "  he  exclaimed,  looking  at  her 
admiringly;  but  whether  in  admiration  of  her 


**  Coming  Bvents  Cast  SbaDows."    25 

fair  young  English  face,  or  at  the  workmanlike 
way  in  which  she  had  helped  him,  it  would  have 
been  difficult  to  speculate  upon. 

"  I'll  give  you  a  kiss  for  that  one  of  these  days 
if  you  behave  yourself,"  he  added,  playfully. 

"  Why  not  now,  Tom  ?  "  she  rejoined,  looking 
at  him  with  a  sudden,  shy  light  on  her  face  that 
would  have  settled  the  matter  with  most  men. 
"  The  mood  does  not  strike  you  quite  so  often 
as  it  used  to,  and  you  know  delays  are  dan- 
gerous." 

She  had  never  spoken  to  him  like  this  before. 

"  Well,"  he  answered,  laughing,  and  ex- 
amining the  choke  of  one  of  the  barrels  which 
he  held  in  his  hand  critically,  "  you  might  give 
me  credit,  you  know,  and  I'll  give  you  liberal 
interest  when  I  pay  you." 

He  might  have  only  wanted  to  tease  her, 
after  the  fashion  of  some  men,  who  have  far- 
seeing  views  in  regard  to  the  policy  of  not  mak- 
ing themselves  too  cheap.  But  he  kissed  his 
hand  to  her,  which,  for  an  undemonstrative 
man  like  him,  was  a  remarkable  concession,  and 
left  the  room. 

He  could  not  see  her  face  as  the  light  left  her 
eyes,  and  that  inscrutable  look  come  into  them 
— that  look  which  someone  has  painted  as  ever 
haunting  the  sad  eyes,  and  resting  upon  the 
sweet  face  of  the  Egyptian  queen — fateful  and 
weary,  as  if  from  some  hope  long  deferred. 

She  sat  looking  out  upon  the  little  lake,  and 
away  over  the   billow-like  expanse   of  rolling 


36  XLbc  2)evirs  iplasgcouuc'. 

prairie.  It  was  growing  remarkably  dark,  and 
the  stifling  heat  had  given  place  to  a  sudden 
cold  rush  of  air.  Then  a  far-off,  muffled  roar 
was  borne  upon  it.  It  gathered  strength,  and 
changed  into  startling,  portentous  peals  as  it 
traveled  nearer  and  nearer.  Then  a  thunder- 
clap right  overhead,  that  rattled  and  echoed 
away  among  the  crags  and  wooded  heights, 
like  a  feu-de-joie  from  a  battery  of  artillery. 
She  sat  immovable  through  it  all,  when  sud- 
denly her  husband  entered  the  room, 

"  Why,  ChrisSie,  what  a  queer  girl  you  are,  to 
be  sure — you've  got  the  window  open,  and 
you're  not  scared  a  bit,  as  nine  women  out  of 
ten  would  be."  And  he  hastily  closed  the 
window. 

It  did  not  enter  into  his  calculations  that  she 
might  be  the  tenth  woman. 

As  if  roused  from  a  spell,  and  conscious  that 
she  must  have  seemed  strange  to  him,  she  ap- 
peared anxious  to  talk,  and  he  sat  down  op- 
posite her. 

"  Tom,  talking  of  painting,  do  you  think  that 
sulphurous  coloring  in  that  great  cloud  over 
there  would  be  dilBcult  to  catch  }  If  one  could 
only  convey  the  idea  of  its  being  instinct  with 
some  coming  evil !  You  see,  one  must  sug- 
gest more  than  what  is  merely  physical  now- 
adays." 

She  said  this  as  if  it  had  only  that  moment 
struck  her,  and  not  as  if  it  had  arisen  from 
some  train  of  thought  that  suggested  a  natura'i 
sequence. 


*♦  Coming  jevents  Cast  SbaDows."    27 

"  Pshaw !  Chrissie;  I  daresay  a  dash  of  burnt- 
sienna  mixed  with  a  little  yellow-ochre,  or  some 
blend  of  that  sort,  would  about  hit  it  off.  I'd 
prefer  a  gayer  subject  myself.  I  am  afraid 
you've  a  morbid  sort  of  fancy." 

She  neither  winced  nor  bit  her  lip,  sensitive  as 
she  naturally  was.  Even  a  child  will  become 
apathetic  after  a  time,  when  its  disposition  is 
not  understood  and  it  is  habitually  snubbed. 
It  only  seemed  as  if  her  eyes  became  darker 
in  their  color,  as  she  gazed  fixedly  out  upon 
the  darkening  landscape.  Suddenly  she  ex- 
claimed— 

"  Look,  Tom  ! — don't  you  see  them  ? — a 
couple  of  men  on  foot,  I  declare ! — the  first 
human  beings  I  have  seen  come  from  the  direc- 
tion of  that  great  lone  land  where  nobody 
lives." 

"  By  Jove  !  so  there  are ! — your  eyes  are 
sharper  than  mine.  American  deserters,  I 
should  say ;  and  they've  come  out  of  their  way 
— most  horribly  out  of  their  way,  from  Fort 
Assiniboine.  They  must  have  had  a  lively  time 
of  it,  without  a  house  for  considerably  over  a 
hundred  miles.  Phew  !  it's  beginning  to  rain  in 
earnest.  What  on  earth  can  they  be  stopping 
for,  I  wonder  ?  " 

The  men  he  referred  to  could  be  seen  now 
upon  a  rising  piece  of  ground,  against  the  grey, 
portentous  sky,  where  that  mysterious  light 
threw  them  out  into  strong  relief.  The  taller 
of  the  two  seemed  to  hesitate  at  a  trail  which 


28  Zbc  DevU's  iPlasgrounD. 

would  have  taken  them  directly  west,  and  away 
to  nowhere  in  particular  ;  and  the  other  had  ad- 
vanced a  few  yards  on  the  trail  that  led  direct  to 
the  manager's  house  and  other  buildings  of  the 
ranche.  They  seemed  disputing  as  to  which 
they  should  take.  At  last  the  taller  of  the  two 
seemed  to  have  been  influenced  by  the  other, 
and  both  came  leisurely  in  the  direction  of  the 
buildings  before  mentioned. 

"  How  strange  !  "  Mrs.  Tredennis  remarked ; 
"  it  is  raining  heavily,  and  they  don't  seem  to 
hurry  a  bit." 

"  Probably  a  wash  is  a  novelty  now  and  again 
to  them,"  he  remarked,  "By  Jove!  though, 
how  opportunely  the  rain  has  come  ;  it  will  put 
some  water  in  the  creeks  for  the  stock." 

"  I  suppose,  Tom,  MacMillan  knows  enough 
to  do  what  he  can  for  these  poor  fellows, 
whether  they  are  deserters  or  not  ?  ''  she  said, 
paying  no  heed  to  his  practical  remarks  about 
the  water  in  the  creek. 

"  Of  course,  my  dear  ;  and  we  want  men  badly 
just  now.  Whether  they  are  deserters  or  not, 
if  they  can  only  sit  on  the  back  of  a  horse,  or 
can  cook  or  do  anything  at  all,  I  should  like  to 
secure  them  for  the  '  round-up.'  I'll  hunt  up 
my  waterproof,  and  just  step  over  to  Mac- 
Millan's  after  a  bit." 

In  half  an  hour  he  rose  and  left ;  in  another 
half  hour  or  so  he  was  back.  The  lamps  were 
now  lit  upon  the  table. 

"  It  is  a '  rocky '  night,  as  they  term  it  in  this 


**  Comiiifl  ^Events  Cast  sbaDows."    29 

country,"  he  remarked,  as  he  entered  the  cheer- 
ful room.  "  Do  you  know,  Chrissie,"  he  con- 
tinued as  if  imparting  something  that  had 
evidently  impressed  him,  "  that  we  have  two 
rather  uncommon  visitors  at  MacMillan's  over 
the  way." 

"  American  deserters  ?  "  she  queried. 

"  Guess  again,"  he  said. 

"  Tramps .''  "  as  if  it  were  of  little  interest  to 
her. 

"  Hardly,"  and  he  seemed  to  enjoy  the  asso- 
ciation of  ideas.  "  Well,  they  are  tramps, 
perhaps  ;  and  in  appearance  they  don't  belie 
the  title  ;  but  I  know  English  gentlemen,  born 
and  bred,  when  I  see  them." 

"  How  interesting ;  the  prodigal  of  the 
parable,"  she  remarked  wearily,  "  or  some  poor 
fellows  who  have  not  found  pupil-farming  as 
lively  as  they  expected,  and  find  looking  for 
work  not  a  trifle  livelier.  But,  oh !  I'm  in  an 
uncharitable  frame  of  mind,  and  should  not 
talk  like  this.  I  hope  you  will  do  what  you  can 
for  them,  Tom.  What  did  they  say  for  them- 
selves ?  " 

And  now  she  betrayed  a  little  more  interest, 
and  looked  at  her  husband,  who  continued — 

"  Well,  one  of  them,  the  elder  of  the  two,  had 
precious  little  to  say,  and  it  struck  me  he  didn't 
care  about  saying  any  more  than  he  could  help. 
Not  a  bad-looking  sort  of  fellow,  but  a  devil- 
may-care  one,  it  wasn't  hard  to  see.  But  the 
younger  of  the  two — I  wouldn't  suppose  him  to 


30  ^be  'BcviVs  iPlasgrounD. 

be  more  than  two-and-twenty  or  so — is  a  char- 
acter in  his  way.  To  hear  him  talk  you  would 
suppose  him  to  be  about  sixty  years  of  age,  and 
with  all  the  experience  of  an  eventful  lifetime  ; 
he  appears  to  be  an  anomaly.  When  I  went 
over  to  MacMillan's  they  were  drying  their 
clothes,  which  were  very  so-so  articles  indeed. 
I  asked  the  elder  of  the  two  where  they  were 
bound  for.  He  replied,  '  Right  on,  wherever 
that  may  be ;  anyhow,  it  isn't  of  much  conse- 
quence whether  we  get  there  or  not.  In  fact, 
we'd  as  soon  not  get  there.'  Cool,  wasn't  it  ? 
Had  it  not  been  for  his  manner,  which  was 
perfectly  good-natured  and  courteous,  I  would 
have  considered  this  answer  savored  of  flip- 
pancy. Then  the  younger  fellow  chipped  in, 
and  said  they  were  looking  for  work,  if  they 
could  get  it ;  but  his  comrade  said  that,  '  so  far 
as  he  was  concerned,  he  thought  he'd  go  on  a 
little  farther — he  had  enough  for  a  few  more 
meals.'  And  here  the  two  had  an  argument — 
the  one  wanting  to  go  on,  the  other  to  stop. 
The  upshot  of  it  was,  I  offered  them  good  in- 
ducements, and  said  they  could  try  it  for  a 
couple  of  weeks,  when,  if  it  did  not  suit  them, 
they  could  go  if  they  wanted  to.  They  con- 
sented, so  I  suppose  they  will  start  in  to-mor- 
row. Upon  the  whole  I  like  their  style  ;  they 
are  at  least  respectable ;  and,  if  they  have  not 
got  all  the  experience  one  would  wish,  they  can 
learn.  The  sight  of  some  of  those  nondescript 
cowboys — who  have  an  idea  that  by  putting  on 


"  Coming  iBvcnts  Cast  SbaDows."    31 

a  pair  of  leather  chaperegos,  sticking  a  revolver 
in  their  belt,  a  slouch  hat  on  their  head,  talking 
through  their  noses,  swearing,  and  whose  sole 
ambition  is  to  be  considered  '  tough ' — makes 
me  sick.  What  are  you  thinking  about,  Chris- 
sie  ?  "  he  added,  after  a  pause. 

She  had  been  sitting  with  her  hands  folded 
on  her  lap,  and  with  a  troubled  air.  She  roused 
herself  with  a  start,  and  regarded  him 
strangely. 

"  Things  I  don't  think  you  would  understand, 
and  would  only  laugh  at  me  if  1  told  you  of," 
she  answered  indifferently.  "  However,  as 
your  queer  visitor  over  at  JMacMillan's  remarked, 
'  it's  of  no  consequence.'  I  have  had  a  queer 
fancy  all  day,  and  thought  this  morning  that  it 
would  wear  away  with  a  headache,  but  now  it's 
stronger  on  me  than  ever." 

"  Thunderstorms  often  have  that  effect  upon 
certain  temperaments,"  remarked  Tom.  "  I 
hope  you  haven't  caught  a  cold,  Chrissie  ;  that 
would  be  rather  an  unpleasant  thing  ;  colds  are 
built  that  way.  You  kept  that  window  open 
rather  too  long,  you  know.  But  I  must  go  and 
finish  my  gun-cleaning  ;  I  cannot  leave  that  to 
any  one.  I  should  advise  you  to  go  to  bed  as 
soon  as  possible,  and  take  something,  in  case 
you  have  got  a  chill." 

Oh,  honest  but  near-sighted  Tom,  whose 
panacea  for  all  ills  is  to  take  "  something  " — 
the  even-flowing  current  of  whose  nature  never 
was  disturbed  by  more  than  a  cat's  paw  of  pas- 


32  Zbc  Devil's  BMasgrounO. 

sing  emotion— you  little  know  of  the  hidden 
depths  and  under-currents  of  some  natures, 
which  are  so  far  beyond  the  ordinary  touch  of 
heart  and  brain. 

Then,  when  the  dusk  had  passed  into  dark- 
ness, and  the  thunderstorm  had  passed  away, 
the  stars  gleamed  through  the  blue,  and  the 
goddess  Night  reigned  over  the  half  of  a  weary 
world. 


CHAPTER  III. 

"  WHAT  CHANCE  HAS  BROUGHT  YOU  HERE  ?  " 

It  was  indeed  a  glorious  morning  when  Dick 
Travers  and  Jack  Holmes  awoke.  The  sun 
was  already  up,  and  looked  as  if  he  intended  to 
make  up  for  his  eclipse  of  the  previous  evening 
by  shining  out  a  little  sooner  and  fiercer  than 
usual.  "  Just  wait  a  little,"  he  seemed  to  say, 
"  until  I  get  a  little  farther  up,  and  then  I'll 
roast  you  a  bit ! "  For  in  this  land  of  extremes, 
the  sun  either  sulks  altogether  and  hides  him- 
self, or  else  comes  out  bold  and  strong,  mean- 
ing business. 

They  had  slept  over-night  in  the  men's 
quarters,  which  was  a  comfortable  weather- 
board building  attached  to  the  manager's  house, 
whose  wife,  Mrs.  MacMillan,  prepared  the 
meals  of  the  two  or  three  men  generally  em- 
ployed on  the  ranche.  MacMillan  was  already 
up ;  he  was  a  dark,  wiry-looking  man,  with  a 
pleasant  Celtic  face  ;  he  might  be  bordering 
upon  forty  years  of  age  or  so.  As  our  knights 
of  the  trail  were  dressing,  he  sang  out  to  the 
other  two  men  who  occupied  two  of  the  other 
bunks  in  the  hut.     MacMillan  seldom  betrayed 


34  ^be  BevU's  plaggrounD. 

any  Gaelic  accent  save  under  some  strong 
emotion ;  he  had  been  for  the  greater  part  of 
his  life  in  Canada.  The  two  men  whom  Mac- 
Millan  called  to  got  up  when  called. 

One  of  them  was  an  active  young  fellow, 
with  a  pleasant  face,  who  was  called  Reynolds, 
and  who  gave  the  newcomers  a  cheerj'^  good- 
morning  ;  but  the  other  was  not  quite  so  pleas- 
ant to  look  upon.  He  was  of  that  neither-fish 
nor  good-red-herring  type,  which  Tom  Treden- 
nis  had  on  the  previous  night  characterized  as 
"  tough,"  or  at  least  whose  sole  ambition  was 
to  be  considered  so.  He  drawled  his  speech 
through  his  nose,  was  always  talking  about 
getting  "  the  drop  upon  his  man,"  and  as  he 
once  had  been  a  cowboy  in  Montana,  had  gen- 
erally some  wonderful  experiences  to  relate,  in 
which,  of  course,  he  always  figured  in  a  more 
or  less  heroic  light.  He  generally  managed  to 
insinuate  in  the  course  of  his  conversation  that 
he  had  the  reputation  of  being  considered 
"bad" — on  "the  other  side."  He  would  have 
considered  he  lost  in  dignity  to  be  seen  without 
his  heavy  leather  chaperegos,  and  his  great  Mexi- 
can spurs  which  jangled  like  cowbells.  His 
revolver  was  nickel-plated,  and  the  handle  was 
of  mother-of-pearl.  He  seemed  to  have  a  hor- 
ror of  a  barber,  and  his  general  appearance  was 
dirty,  if  not  forbidding. 

"  Waal,"  growled  that  worthy,  "  I  don't  mind 
gittin'  up  at  a  reasonable  time  ;  but  dern  me  if  I 
ker about gittin' up  in  the  middle  of  the  night!  " 


**Mbat  Cbancc  bas  brougbt  sou  bcre?"  3s 

But  he  had  made  a  slight  mistake ;  he  had 
not  given  MacMillan  sufficient  time  to  leave  the 
room. 

"  I  beg  your  pardon  ;  did  you  speak,  Billie  ?  " 
asked  that  individual,  opening  the  door  a  little 
and  looking  into  the  room. 

"  I  sed  right  ye  er',  guvnor.  '  Flip '  is  the 
word  !  "  answered  Billie,  with  apparent  alacrity. 

The  door  was  closed,  and  MacMillan  had 
gone.  Then  Billie 's  eyes  wandered  over  the 
new-comers. 

"  Hilloa,  my  cocks !  "  he  remarked  jauntily, 
"  'pears  to  me  you're  gittin'  a  rustle  on.  I 
guess  as  much  as  you're  new  to  this  life.  Ten- 
derfoots always  is  that  way." 

"What  did  you  have  the  goodness  to  ob- 
serve ? "  inquired  Dick,  regarding  him  quietly 
and  with  that  disconcerting  eye  of  his,  that 
sometimes  had  an  unpleasant  fashion  of  mak- 
ing the  person  on  whom  it  was  fixed  feel  rather 
uneasy. 

Billie  at  first  honored  him  with  a  surprised 
and  savage  glare,  then  over  his  dirty  face 
there  spread  a  wan  and  sickly  smile  as  he 
answered — 

"  Never  mind,  pard.  I  likes  my  little  joke,  I 
does.  I  remarked  as  how  you  were  an  early 
bird,  thet's  all." 

"  Oh  !  that  was  all,  Mr.— I  didn't  catch  your 
name — well,  Billie,  if  you  will  have  it  so ;  any- 
how Billie  is  shorter  and  sounds  more  friendly. 
My  name's  Dick.     I  thought  you   said  some- 


36  tlbc  Devil's  plaisgrouuD. 

thing  about  '  tenderfoots,'  but  must  have  been 
mistaken.     However,  it's  of  no  consequence." 

Here  Reynolds  turned  his  back  to  the  com- 
pany, and  his  shoulders  w^ere  seen  to  shake 
suspiciously ;  which  latter  action  was  not  lost 
upon  the  keen-eyed  Billie,  who  muttered  some- 
thing under  his  breath. 

Then  the  party  adjourned  to  the  stables,  and 
after  the  horses  had  been  looked  to  they  began 
their  rough  and  ready  toilets  for  breakfast.  As 
there  was  only  one  tin  wash-basin  in  the 
quarters,  Dick  remarked  to  the  Sage  that  he 
would  go  down  to  the  lake.  Going  out  bare- 
headed and  in  his  shirt-sleeves,  he  shouldered 
his  towel,  and  went  down  through  the  drenched 
and  resin-scented  pines  towards  a  little  promon- 
tory on  the  lake. 

It  was  indeed  a  lovely  morning ;  Nature, 
which  had  been  drooping  and  withering  for 
some  weeks,  seemed  to  have  taken  a  fresh  lease 
of  life,  and  gone  back  two  or  three  months  into 
the  spring  again.  The  very  birds  seemed  jubi- 
lant over  the  change ;  and  the  rich  and  varied 
coloring  of  the  great  crags  on  the  mountain- 
side shone  out  clear,  vivid,  and  translucent,  like 
the  delicate  veins  on  a  pebble  after  it  has  been 
immersed  in  the  wet.  It  put  Dick,  for  all  the 
world,  in  mind  of  a  bit  of  old-country  Highland 
scenery ;  only  the  tinting  of  the  whole  was 
richer  and  warmer.  Dick  looked  around  him 
admiringly  ;  he  had  not  thought  there  was  such 
scenery  in  the    Northwest.     He  felt  as   if    he 


**  mbnt  Cbance  bag  brougbt  sou  bere? "  37 

could  take  a  fancy  to  this  place  ;  but  somehow 
— and  he  could  not  account  for  it,  he  felt  as  if 
he  would  rather  work  for  any  other  than  his 
own  countrymen.  Of  course  the  company  he 
had  to  mingle  with  might  not  be  exactly  con- 
genial ;  but  then  he  had  not  been  in  a  position 
to  choose  his  company  these  last  few  years,  and 
he  still  had  the  Sage,  who  always  amused  him. 
After  all,  he  might  just  be  as  well  here  as  any- 
where else. 

He  performed  his  ablutions  in  the  lake,  and 
was  going  slowly  up  the  narrow,  gravelly  beach 
under  the  dark  bank  of  pines,  his  eyes  fixed  on 
the  ground  before  him,  when  suddenly  a  shadow 
fell  right  across  his  path.  Looking  up,  a 
woman  stood  right  in  front  of  him. 

There  are  times  when  mere  ejaculations  of 
surprise  fall  ridiculously  short  of  the  emotions 
that  call  them  into  existence.  This  lady,  in  her 
light  morning  dress  and  her  bare  head,  stood  as 
if  turned  into  stone.  Her  face  was  pale  as  death, 
and  her  great  brown  eyes  stared  at  the  man 
before  her,  as  if  she  beheld  some  visitor  from 
the  other  world,  instead  of  the  very  ordinary 
figure  of  a  young  man  in  his  shirt-sleeves,  and 
with  a  towel  loosely  flung  over  his  shoulders. 
Her  lips  parted,  but  only  an  indistinct  sound 
came  from  them. 

Travers  in  his  turn  took  a  step  backwards, 
and  drew  a  limp  hand  across  his  eyes  as  if  the 
sunlight  dazzled  them.  Both  stood  speechless 
for  what   seemed   to   be   an   interminable  age. 


38  ^be  Devil's  lPlasgroun&. 

The  man  was  the  first  to  recover  somewhat  of 
his  composure. 

"  You  ! "  he  managed  to  stammer.  "  You  ! 
Chrissie — I  suppose,  though,  that  your  proper 
name  is  Mrs.  Tredennis." 

"  Oh,  Dick ! "  she  cried  almost  piteously. 
"  What  chance  has  brought  you  here — and  like 
this.i^     I  thought  you  were  still  in  India." 

And  now  the  man  had  become  more  fully 
the  master  of  the  situation  and  himself,  and 
with  an  evident  effort  he  kept  his  demeanor 
subdued  and  respectful.  The  shabby,  thread- 
bare clothes  he  wore  were  forgotten  now ;  only 
the  man  and  the  gentleman  asserted  them- 
selves. He  spoke,  and  his  voice  was  calm  and 
even  dignified  ;  but  his  eyes  betrayed  the  indig- 
nation that  stirred  within  him. 

"  Yes,  Chrissie — I  beg  your  pardon,  Mrs. 
Tredennis.  Things  come  about  strangely, 
don't  they?  You  may  be  surprised  to  see  me 
here,  but  I  don't  think  you  need  be  to  see  me 
like  this." 

He  paused  an  instant,  and  drew  his  breath  in 
short,  quick  gasps ;  as  he  continued  to  speak 
his  indignation  got  the  better  of  his  self-posses- 
sion. 

Then,  as  if  it  gave  him  some  relief,  he  asked 
her  if  she  remembered  the  story  of  the  past. 
Did  she  remember  how  when  he  had  lost  his 
patrimony  in  the  Old  Country,  he  had  offered 
to  free  her  from  her  engagement  to  him.'  How 
she  had  said  that  the  mere  loss  of  money  made 


**  Mbat  Cbance  bas  brougbt  sou  bcre7 "  39 

no  difference,  and  she  would  wait  until  he  had 
made  a  home  for  her  in  that  far  land  to  which 
he  proposed  going — she  would  even  go  with 
him,  if  he  would  let  her  ?  He  had  gone  to 
Ceylon,  and  had  worked  for  her  day  and  night. 
He  had  even  deprived  himself  of  the  necessities 
of  life,  so  that  he  might  all  the  sooner  make  a 
home  for  her.  And  how  at  last,  after  two 
weary  years  of  waiting,  when  he  had  gone  down 
to  Colombo  to  meet  her  whom  he  expected  out 
by  the  first  ocean  liner  to  be  his  wife,  he  found, 
not  her,  but  a  letter,  couched  in  guarded,  sym- 
pathetic terms  instead,  from  an  old  friend  of 
his,  telling  how  that  the  woman  who  had  prom- 
ised to  be  his  wife  was  already  the  wife  of 
another  man.  They  wrote  and  told  him  how 
she  had  married  money.  And  then — but  perhaps 
it  did  not  matter  to  her  what  happened — he  had 
never  cared  for  money,  at  least  only  when  he 
was  making  it  for  her.  He  had  never  gone 
back  to  that  home  which  he  had  prepared  for 
her,  and  where  smiling  native  ser\'ants  were 
waiting  to  welcome  home  the  "  mem  sahib." 
He  left  that  beautiful  land  which  had  been  such 
a  terrible  mockery  to  him  ;  and  since  then  with 
only  a  love  of  seeing  strange  peoples  and  coun- 
tries to  gratify,  he  had  been  a  wanderer  on  the 
face  of  the  earth.  Of  course  hard-headed  (and 
harder-hearted  he  might  have  said)  wiseacres 
called  him  a  fool  :  in  all  probability  he  was  one, 
but  that  only  harmed  himself.  True,  he  had 
not  drunk  himself  to  death,  or  committed  moral 


40  XLbc  Devil's  iPlasgrounD. 

suicide.  But  she  had  destroyed  much  of  his 
faith  in  women — in  such  as  her  wholly — and 
robbed  him  of  all  incentive  to  ambition.  And 
then  he  finished  by  saying — 

"  Of  course  I  ought  to  have  known,  fool  that 
I  was,  that  you  could  never  have  cared  for  me. 
If  you  had  been  honest  with  me  on  one  occa- 
sion you  might  have  saved  all  this— but  you 
were  not.  You  had  not  the  moral  courage,  but 
let  me  go  away  first ;  and  judging  me  by  your 
own  narrow  soul,  thought  that  I  could  forget 
you,  as  easily  as  you  could  forget  me  !  " 

"  Oh,  stop,  Dick,  stop,  you  are  unjust  to 
me — ."  Her  face  had  grown  pale  as  death ; 
her  dry  eyes  were  wild  and  strange  as  she 
looked  upon  him,  and  her  hands  were  held  out 
piteously  towards  him.  But  he  interrupted 
her. 

"  Pshaw  !  "  he  said,  sneeringly,  "  your  actions 
have  proved  how  much  you  reverence  justice. 
Why  make  yourself  seem  more  contemptible 
than  j^ou  really  are— if  that  were  possible  ?  " 

She  held  out  her  hands  appealingly  to  him,  as 
if  to  stop  him,  and  as  if  his  words  cut  her  to  the 
quick  of  her  woman's  nature.  It  was  indeed  a 
strange  meeting.  It  was  not  a  pleasant  thing 
to  see  this  girl,  who  was  indeed  a  queen 
amongst  women— who  had  that  self-possession 
which  only  birth,  or  consciousness  of  innate 
powers  can  give,  and  who  possessed  intellectual 
and  physical  gifts  which  raised  her  above  the 
less  favored  and  more  emotional  of  her  sex — 


*♦  IClbat  Cbance  bas  brougbt  ^ou  bere ! "  4^ 

swayed  by  a  tempest  of  passion  like  this,  and 
the  prey  of  a  perturbed  miud.  The  pallor  of 
her  countenance  only  seemed  to  heighten  the 
largeness  and  darkness  of  her  eyes  and  hair ; 
she  looked  like  a  woman  from  some  dark  page 
of  history  supplicating  before  astern,  unbending 
power,  for  the  life  of  some  one  who  was  near 
and  dear  to  her.  At  first  she  had  looked  upon 
him  in  a  surprised  and  perplexed  way,  when  he 
had  poured  out  the  torrent  of  an  angry  and  in- 
jured nature  upon  her.  Once  or  twice  it  ap- 
peared as  if  she  would  break  in  upon  him  with 
some  word  of  dissent,  or  was  about  ask  him 
a  question;  but  he  had  always  stopped  her 
with  a  gesture  of  impatience.  All  at  once  as 
he  proceeded,  a  light  seemed  to  break  in  upon 
what  was  evidently  perplexing  her,  and  she 
gradually  became  calmer.  At  last,  in  spite  of 
his  words  of  scorn,  some  settled,  high  resolve 
seemed  to  take  possession  of  her,  leaving  its 
impress  on  her  face  and  giving  her  courage. 

"  Better  let  things  remain  as  they  are,"  she 
had  said  despairingly,  as  if  she  did  not  care 
whether  he  listened  to  her  or  not.  "  You  may 
learn  differently  yet ;  but  it  is  perhaps  better 
that  you  should  think  of  me  as  you  do." 

He  only  caught  imperfectly  the  tenor  of  her 
broken  words  ;  but  he  was  too  much  incensed  to 
consider  their  import.     He  continued  bitterly — 

"  You  may  save  your  words  for  those  who 
will  believe  them.  You  need  not  think  that 
any  piece  of  woman's  acting  can   succeed   in 


42  ^be  Devil's  iplasgrounD. 

justifying  the  wrong  you  have  done.  You  are 
a  woman,  but  I  call  you  a  murderess ;  for  a 
heartless  jilt  is  nothing  else." 

Again  she  held  out  her  hands  with  a  quick 
impulsive  gesture  to  him  as  if  she  would  stop 
him  ;  then  dropped  them  helplessly  by  her  side. 
But  still,  strangely  enough,  she  never  took  her 
eyes  off  his  face.  And  they  were  truthful,  hon- 
est eyes  enough,  in  spite  of  all  that  he  had  said 
about  her ;  albeit,  there  was  a  startled  and 
hopeless  look  in  them.  She  found  her  voice 
again — 

"  I  may  deserve  all  you  say  about  me,"  she 
said,  "  but  there  is  one  thing  I  would  ask  you 
to  bear  in  mind,  and  that  is,  that  my  husband 
is  blameless  in  this  matter,  I  don't  suppose  he 
ever  knew  I  was  engaged  to  any  one,  far  less 
ever  heard  your  name  mentioned.  You  need 
not  visit  the  blame  on  him." 

As  she  looked  at  him  again,  her  eyes  seemed 
to  take  in  his  worn,  clumsy  boots,  whose  uppers 
seemed  about  to  part  company  with  the  soles— 
his  dirty  cord  trousers,  on  the  right  knee  of 
which  there  was  a  great  unseemly  patch  of 
some  foreign  material— the  cheap  blue  and  white 
shirt ;  but  of  more  importance  than  all  these 
things,  the  weary  lines  of  care  upon  his  hand- 
some face.  And,  strange  anomaly,  as  she 
looked,  something  very  like  a  great  pity  dawned 
upon  her  face  and  dimmed  her  eyes,  although 
in  vain  she  strove  to  conceal  it. 

He   had  watched  her  face   keenly,   and   she 


*'  Mbat  Cbancc  bas  brougbt  sou  berc7"  43 

seemed  to  recover  her  self-possession  some- 
what as  he  asked — 

''  Well,  are  you  satisfied  ?  " 

She  took  no  notice  of  his  remark,  but  paused 
irresolute  for  a  moment,  and  then  said — • 

"  I  have  no  right  to  ask,  but  are  you  going  to 
tell  my  husband  what  you  have  told  me,  and 
proclaim  my  worthlessness  ?  " 

"  If  he  has  not  found  out  what  you  are  long 
ago,"  was  the  quiet  reply,  "  he  will  find  out  soon 
enough  without  me  telling  him.  I  see  you 
judge  other  people  by  your  own  ideas  of 
revenge." 

He  paused  for  a  minute  as  if  to  consider,  and 
thencontinued — 

'•  No ;  if  your  husband  married  you  without 
knowing  that  you  were  engaged  to  someone 
else.  I  shall  not  tell  him.  It  is  sufficient  that  one 
life  should  have  been  made  miserable  through 
you. "  He  did  not  spare  her  but  went  on  unmer- 
cifully— "  But  if  I  were  to  punish  you  by  that 
measure  which  you  would  mete  out  to  other 
people,  I  would  proclaim  you  for  what  you  are. 
From  what  I  saw  of  your  husband  last  night  I 
took  him  to  be  an  honest  man,  at  least  I  bear  him 
no  grudge,  poor  dupe  that  he  is  !  I  engaged  to 
stop  here  with  him  for  a  month,  but  hope  he 
will  let  me  go.  It  will  be  as  well  that  you  and 
I  should  be  apart ;  yes,  as  far  as  possible.  It  is 
a  strange  thing  that  yesterday,  when  I  stopped 
at  these  cross  trails  in  the  thunderstorm,  I  was 
haunted  by  a  sense   of   some   impending  evil, 


44  V^bc  'S>cvlV6  iPla^grounD. 

and  hesitated  to  take  the  trail  that  led  to  this 
place." 

And  she,  did  she  remember  the  weird,  sul- 
phurous, thunder-cloud  that  had  seemed  to  her 
so  full  of  evil  portent  ?  Surely  some  subtle 
magnetic  force  had  been  at  work  to  tell  the 
other  of  a  disturbing  presence. 

"  You  had  better  not  go,  Dick  ;  for  really — ■ 
and  you  need  not  believe  it  unless  you  like — I 
cannot  think  of  you  wandering  about  like  this. 
I  need  not  ask  you  to  allow  me  to  do  anything 
for  you,  because  I  know  you  would  not  have  it. 
Don't  suppose  I  mean  to  insult  you  by  talking 
like  this,  I  am  not  offering  you  anything.  But 
one  thing  (and  I  do  not  ask  it  for  the  love  you 
once  bore  for  me,  seeing  its  object  was  so 
worthless)  I  would  ask  of  you,  and  that  is  not 
to  leave  this  place  just  yet.  Tom,  that  is,  my 
husband  '' — she  spoke  these  words  almost  under 
her  breath — "  will  think  it  so  strange  if  you  go 
so  suddenly  and  without  any  apparent  reason. 
After  all,  what  am  I  to  you  now  that  you 
should  allow  your  movements  to  be  influenced 
by  me  ?     You  need  see  nothing  of  me." 

He  gazed  curiously  at  her  for  a  minute  or 
two  as  if  considering,  and  answered — 

"  No,  I  do  not  see  why  you  should  influence 
my  movements ;  but  you  are  nothing  to  me 
now,  and  you  shall  not  influence  them.  I  have 
agreed  with  your  husband  to  wait  until  at  least 
the  '  round-up '  is  over ;  I  don't  suppose  it 
would  matter  much  to  him  if  I  left ;  but  I  shall 


'*  Wbat  Qbmcc  bns  bxowQbt  ^o\x  bere?"  45 

stay  till  that  event  comes  off,  then  go.  Until 
then  you  can  enjoy  the  novel  sight  of  me  work- 
ing as  your  husband's  hired  man.  It  v^'ill  be 
one  of  those  phases  of  life  that  you  used  to  be 
so  fond  of  studying.  You  need  not  be  afraid 
of  me  saying  anything  about  your  past ;  for 
this  I  know,  if  there  is  such  a  thing  as  a 
Nemesis  in  this  life  of  ours,  you  will  suffer  for 
your  past  some  day." 

Mechanically  he  inclined  his  head,  and  with- 
out bestowing  another  look  upon  her,  he  left 
her  standing  there,  trembling  and  dazed.  Did 
she  remember  the  last  time  they  parted,  when 
she  had  clung  to  him  and  wept  upon  his  breast  ? 
It  seemed  as  if  his  words  had  already  come 
true,  as  if  that  Nemesis  had  already  overtaken 
her.  For  she  gazed  after  him  with  a  hopeless 
look  in  her  eyes  that  was  not  without  a  touch 
of  wistfulness  ;  and  then,  with  that  smiling 
autumn  landscape  grown  dreary  and  wintry- 
like  to  her,  she  walked  slowly  towards  the  dun- 
colored  house. 

In  spite  of  herself,  it  was  with  a  guilty  feel- 
ing she  approached  it,  and  went  in  by  a  back 
way.  It  appeared  to  her  as  if  the  very  servants 
eyed  her  suspiciously.  And  when  her  husband 
heard  her  footsteps,  and  called  out  to  her  from 
that  room  sacred  to  his  guns  and  pipes,  she 
did  the  same  by  way  of  answer,  without  enter- 
ing, in  dread  lest  he  should  see  her — 

"Just  wait  a  minute,  Tom,  until  I  dress." 
"Dress!"    he    called    back;    "why,   you've 


46  Zbc  Devtl'6  iPlasgrounD. 

been  out  for  an  hour  and  more  ;  but  I  don't 
wonder,  it's  a  sin  to  be  indoors  on  such  a  morn- 
ing as  this.  I  only  wanted  to  tell  you  that  I 
breakfasted  without  you.  There  are  some 
blacktail  deer  upon  the  bench ;  I'm  going  out 
after  them,  and  won't  be  back  until  evening. 
A  Mounted  Policeman  brought  some  mail  for 
you  this  morning— you'll  find  it  on  the  dining- 
room  table." 

As  if  for  an  excuse  to  avoid  meeting  him,  she 
ran  to  look  at  her  letters,  and  opened  them 
eagerly  ;  but,  to  tell  the  truth,  felt  little  interest 
in  them.  She  told  the  servant  to  remove  the 
breakfast  things  ;  said  she  had  a  headache  and 
could  not  eat.  But  there  were  two  in  "  West- 
end  "  coullee  who  had  no  breakfast  that  morning 
— for  that  was  the  name  of  Tredennis's  ranche. 

"Hilloa!  Travers,"  said  MacMillan  as  Dick 
approached  the  manager's  house,  "  we've  had 
breakfast ;  but  I  guess  the  missus  has  kept 
some  for  you.  We'll  have  a  smoke  and  wait 
for  you  outside.  There's  no  particular  hurry 
this  morning." 

"  Thanks,"  said  Dick,  "  I  ought  to  have  told 
you  I  intended  to  do  a  bit  of  a  starve  this  morn- 
ing ;  feel  a  little  queer — a  touch  of  an  old  fever. 
I'll  just  tell  Mrs.  MacMillan  and  be  with  you  in 
a  jiffey." 

"  Toots,  man,  you  just  go  in  and  get  a  cup  of 
strong  tea  from  the  wife;  it's  none  of  your 
poisonous  green  truck  ;  it'll  do  you  good." 

Dick  thanked  him  again  and  went  in.     In  the 


" Mbat  Cbance  bas  brougbt  sou  bevel"  47 

doorway  he  met  the  Sage,  who  eyed  him 
keenly. 

"  Hilloa,  old  man,  what's  up  ?  "  exclaimed 
that  individual.  "  Seen  the  ghost  of  your 
revered  uncle,  and  the  spirits  of  the  unre- 
deemed ?  Why,  what  is  the  matter  ?  you're 
looking  queer." 

"Seen  a  ghost  of  the  past,  Jack,  that's  all," 
replied  Dick.  Then,  becoming  conscious  that 
he  had  excited  the  Sage's  curiosity,  he  con- 
tinued, "  The  fact  is,  I  saw  Billie  putting  on  his 
revolver,  and  his  Mexican  spurs.  I  think  the 
sight  rather  upset  me.  Had  no  idea  we  had 
fallen  in  with  such  a  lawless  crowd.  By  the 
way,  Jack,  I  wonder  if  we  could  borrow  a  shoe- 
maker's awl  and  a  wax-end  ?  I  fear  my  Paris- 
ian made  boots  are  in  a  state  of  approaching 
dissolution.  However,  I'm  afraid  it's  a  case  of 
putting  my  trust  in  Providence  until  evening : 
shall  have  to,  anyhow." 

His  boots  had  not  given  him  a  thought  till 
then.  And  it  was  a  significant  fact  that  ere  he 
had  done  speaking  about  them,  he  must  have 
forgotten  the  fact  of  his  comrade's  presence,  for 
he  said,  as  if  to  himself,  "  I  wonder  what  pos- 
sessed her  to  ask  me  to  stay.'  Can  she  have  no 
sense  of  shame  }  " 


CHAPTER  IV. 

HER   HUSBAND. 

Mrs.  Tredennis  sat  nearly  all  the  forenoon 
in  one  place,  close  to  the  open  window,  where 
she  could  see  the  far-stretching  vista  of  rolling 
prairie,  on  which  the  heated  air-waves  danced, 
and  played  all  manner  of  hobgoblin  tricks  with 
the  physical  features  of  that  lonely  landscape. 
Here,  there  was  a  cliff  with  a  bold  front  and  a 
fringe  of  scrub  growing  atop  of  it,  where  she 
knew  there  was  nothing  but  a  level  piece  of 
prairie.  And  there,  was  a  lawn-like  stretch  of 
smoothest  grass,  where  she  knew  the  prairie 
was  bare  and  broken.  The  sun  beat  fiercely 
down,  as  it  does  late  in  the  fall  in  these  parts  ; 
and  had  it  not  been  for  the  thunderstorm  of  the 
day  before,  it  might  have  been  unpleasantly 
sultry.  For  once  Mrs.  Tredennis  took  no  inter- 
est in  the  face  of  Nature.  Hers  was  an  artist's 
temperament,  and  in  art  lay  her  refuge  when 
there  was  a  jarring  in  the  wheels  of  her  exist- 
ence. There  were  those  who  had  predicted  a 
great  future  for  her ;  but  somehow  she  would 
not  tread  in  the  beaten  and  conventional  paths 
of  legitimate  art.    She  was  always  seeking  after 


Ibex  IbusbanD,  49 

that  which  was  uncommon  in  Nature,  which  in 
fact  almost  bordered  upon  the  unreal.  Her 
landscapes  suggested  an  infinite  eeriness  and 
sense  of  solitude,  which  would  strike  and  haunt 
the  beholder  long  after  they  had  been  looked 
upon.  When  she  gave  these  landscapes  life, 
she  gave  them  a  fitting  life ;  her  figures  sug- 
gested a  tragedy  obscure,  but  none  the  less  sub- 
tle and  pathetic.  Perhaps  there  were  no  artists 
she  more  resembled  in  her  choice  of  subjects 
than  Vedder  and  Church,  differing  as  they  do 
in  some  points.  Although  the  critics  admitted 
the  beauty  and  truthfulness  of  treatment  in  her 
work,  still,  because  she  was  a  "departure  '"  they 
would"  not  recognize  her.  Abuse  must  precede 
fame,  and  the  founding  of  a  school :  when  the 
art  critics  denounce,  the  curiosity  of  the  public 
is  aroused,  and  if  there  is  anything  in  it,  some 
one  with  more  moral  courage  and  discrimina- 
tion than  the  others  will  point  it  out.  Then, 
straightway,  the  whole  world  will  say,  "  We 
thought  there  was  something  in  it,  though  we 
could  not  exactly  say  what  it  was  " — and  then 
— applause. 

And  still  the  lonely  figure  by  the  window  sat 
and  gazed  over  the  ever- changing  mirage  on 
the'prairie.  Some  letters  lay  open  on  the  table 
beside  her  ;  but  it  was  not  these  she  was  think- 
ing about ;  she  might  have  been  one  of  those 
solitary  figures  from  one  of  her  own  paintings, 
so  suggestive  was  she  of  some  deep-rooted 
trouble.     For  now  she  found  herself,  perhaps, 


so  Zhc  'BcviV6  IPla^grounD. 

in  the  most  humiliating  position  in  which  a 
woman  can  find  herself — despised  by  the  man 
whom  she  had  loved,  and  for  whom  yet,  per- 
haps, the  old  passion  was  not  quite  extinct. 
She  had  thrown  this  man  over  in  a  moment  of 
pique,  and  when  she  was,  perhaps,  perfectly 
justified  in  doing  so,  provided  that  what  she 
had  heard  of  him  were  true — were  true  ? — that 
was  exactly  where  the  trouble  lay.  But  her 
conduct  had  been  guided  by  those  whom  she 
had  been  taught  from  her  childhood  to  look  up 
to  as  unimpeachable  and  inviolable ;  and  now 
the  traditions  of  her  you  .h  had  received  a  severe 
shock.  She  realized  that  undoubtedly  she  had 
been  deceived  by  those  who  ought  to  have 
shielded  her  from  deceit.  She  had  been  a  creat- 
ure of  impulses,  and  now  they  bid  fair  to  wreck 
her  future  happiness.  The  words  of  him  who 
had  reproached  her,  and  the  man  himself  as  he 
stood  before  her,  had  carried  conviction  home; 
to  her.  She  had  sometimes  thought  with  the 
spirit  of  a  highminded  girl,  before  she  had  mar- 
ried Tredennis,  that  if  in  the  years  to  come 
should  ever  chance  throw  this  man  across  her 
path,  how  she  would  wither  him  with  her  scorn 
and  contempt,  and  make  him  feel — if  he  were 
capable  of  feeling — the  stings  of  remorse. 
After  she  had  renounced  him,  and  had,  on  the 
return  of  cooler  judgment,  come  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  it  was  the  height  of  folly  to  condemn 
herself  to  live  a  solitary,  joyless  life  in  a  house- 
hold where  she  was  anything  but  happy,  she 


1ber  t>usbanD.  s' 

banished  him  from  her  thoughts — at  least  so 
far  as  she  could.  She  would  show  him  of 
what  little  account  she  considered  his  shallow 
love ;  and  in  a  moment  of  pique  she  had  con- 
sented to  marry.  From  a  worldly  point  of 
view  she  had  no  cause  to  regret  her  marriage  ; 
she  occupied  an  assured  position  that  many  na- 
tures as  free  from  mercenary  considerations  as 
hers,  would  have  considered  a  prize  amongst  a 
thousand.  To  her  husband  she  strove  to  be  a 
good  wife  and  true  ;  if  she  did  not  love  him,  she 
at  least  respected  him,  and  tried  to  bring  her- 
self to  love  him. 

But  now  the  tables  were  turned  with  a  ven- 
geance, and  she  herself  occupied  the  place  of  an 
object  of  contempt  and  scorn,  which  she  had 
imagined  Dick  Travers  would  one  day  occupy. 
She  found  that  instead  of  being  the  wrong- 
doer he  was  the  wronged,  and  a  powerful  re- 
vulsion of  feeling  was  the  result.  And  now  a 
sickening  fear  of  what  the  consequences  must 
be  if  she  gave  way  to  those  feelings,  presented 
itself  to  her. 

Mrs.  Tredennis  did  not  dream  of  being  dis- 
loyal to  her  husband  even  in  thought ;  but  it 
was  significant  that  already  she  had  almost  be- 
gun to  pity  that  husband  in  her  heart :  before 
whom  in  the  future  she  must  necessarily  play  a 
double  part. 

But  hers  was  no  weak  nature  ;  for  while  her 
conscience  had  upbraided  her  when  she  had 
looked  upon  the  world-worn  face  of  the  man  she 


52  ^be  Devil's  lPlasgroun&. 

had  once  loved,  a  resolve,  that  could  only  have 
arisen  from  a  mind  of  rare  truthfulness  and  cour- 
age, suggested  itself  to  her.  She  would  let  this 
man  believe  that  she  was  all  that  he  said  she  was. 
She  would  suffer  the  mental  humiliation  of  being 
considered  shallow,  mercenary,  and  worse,  in 
order  that  no  greater  evil  might  arise.  For,  if 
she  had  chosen  to  speak — she  had  been  on  the 
brink  of  it  more  than  once  in  her  interview 
with  him — then,  instead  of  upbraiding  her,  he 
would  have  pitied  her ;  one  kind  word  from 
him,  and  she,  with  'her  impulsive  nature,  would 
have  been  for  the  time  the  slave  of  her  emotions, 
and  the  mischief  would  have  been  done.  Her 
second  thoughts  had  been  to  send  him  away 
from  her,  and  to  appeal  to  his  sense  of  the  fit- 
ness of  things  :  that  it  were  better  now  that  they 
could  not  be  too  far  apart.  But  then  Mrs.  Tre- 
dennis  had  noticed  his  careworn  face,  his 
shabby  clothes,  and  his  general  appearance 
that  of  one  who  finds  it  hard  to  get  along  in 
the  world — so  different  from  what  he  once  had 
been.  Her  great,  woman's  pity  for  him  over- 
powered all  other  considerations,  and  she  sac- 
rificed her  feelings  in  order  that  perhaps  she 
might  further  his  worldly  well-being.  Perhaps 
she  had  some  vague  idea,  that  if  he  came  to  see 
her  in  the  prosaic  and  commonplace  role  of  the 
British  matron,  and  came  in  contact  with  her 
now  and  again,  he  might  come  to  see  that  she 
was  a  much  more  commonplace  being  than  he 
imagined.    Possibly,  even,   he  might  come   to 


Iber  1bu0ban&,  S3 

rejoice  in  his  free  existence,  and  to  think  that 
after  all  the  loss  of  her  was  not  a  thing  to  be  so 
very  much  bemoaned.  With  an  utter  absence 
of  any  vanity,  Mrs.  Tredennis  never  considered 
for  a  minute  what  effect  her  presence  might 
have  upon  him.  In  such  affairs,  strangely 
enough,  it  is  the  most  important  factors  that 
are  lost  sight  of.  In  any  case,  she  would  strive 
to  do  her  duty  :  how  far  she  would  succeed  re- 
mained to  be  seen.  She  would  not  fly  from  the 
danger ;  she  thought  that  in  boldly  facing  and 
combating  it  lay  the  surest  defence  of  both. 
She  would  take  up  her  neglected  Art  again 
and  find  in  it  her  principal  distraction. 

Mrs.  Tredennis  rose,  and  opening  a  side  door 
entered  a  long,  well-lit  room,  which  was  built 
out  from  the  main  building.  A  large  table  lit- 
tered with  sketches  stood  at  one  end  of  the 
room.  A  small  Broadwood  piano  in  a  plain 
oak  case,  that  was  beautiful  in  its  simplicity, 
stood  in  one  corner  ;  an  easel  with  an  unfinished 
sketch  on  it  stood  in  another.  A  few  choice 
proofs  of  engravings  were  on  the  walls  in  plain 
Oxford  frames;  a  few  portfolios  of  engravings 
and  a  pile  of  books  and  magazines  stood  in  an- 
other corner.  Altogether  it  was  a  thoroughly 
business-like  studio,  and  suggested  work  rather 
than  a  mere  retreat  to  gratify  a  dilettante  adorn- 
ment. 

Mrs.  Tredennis  approached  the  unfinished 
sketch  upon  the  easel  and  looked  curiously 
upon  it.     It  was  a  purely  fanciful  sketch,  and 


54  ^bc  Devil's  BMa^grounD. 

represented  a  woman  with  a  strikingly  beauti- 
ful face,  upon  a  low,  sandy  shore,  looking  out 
upon  a  weary,  shoaling  sea,  upon  whose  surface 
nothing  was  visible  but  a  wandering  sea-gull, 
whose  presence  only  accentuated  the  loneliness 
of  the  scene.  And  in  the  face  of  the  woman 
there  was  the  look  of  one  who  had  waited  long  ; 
there  was  an  apathetic,  troubled  brooding — a 
consciousness  as  of  hoping  for  what  is  hopeless. 
Perhaps  there  was  some  subtle  affinity  between 
the  condition  of  her  own  mind  and  that  which 
this  sketch  represented  :  which  she  did  not  alto- 
gether care  to  admit  to  herself  in  her  present 
condition,  and  which  was  not  exactly  in  har- 
mony with  her  new  resolves. 

"  This  will  not  do,"  Mrs.  Tredennis  said  half 
aloud.  "  This  will  not  do  at  all.  The  principal 
aim  of  Art  ought  to  be  to  represent  the  beautiful 
and  true,  in  a  manner  which  will  elevate  and 
render  happier  the  greater  portion  of  humanity. 
There  is  something  morbid  in  this  picture  which 
is  positively  unwholesome,  and  which  is  not 
calculated  to  leave  a  pleasant  impression."  She 
felt  half  inclined  to  take  a  brush  that  lay  handy 
and  smear  the  surface  of  this  sketch  ;  but  she 
felt  loth  to  destroy  what  had  been  the  outcome 
of  her  own  creation.  She  threw  a  light  cloth 
over  it  instead,  and  left  the  room.  Then  for 
the  next  few  hours  she  went  about  the  house, 
talked  to  the  servants  and  supermtended  various 
household  duties,  and  was  surprised  to  find 
what  a  relief  this  busying  herself  with  matter-of- 


Iber  IbusbanO.  SS 

fact  details  was  to  her.  It  was  only  as  the 
dusk  crept  on  that  she  sat  down  by  the  open 
French  window  to  take  a  few  minutes'  rest. 
She  had  not  sat  long  when  she  heard  a  quick, 
firm  footstep  outside,  and  in  another  minute  her 
husband  strode  into  the  room. 

"Dear  me!  in  the  dark  as  usual,"  he  re- 
marked, brusquely.  "  How  you  can  sit  moping 
in  the  gloom  puzzles  me."  Then  he  continued, 
as  if  he  were  conscious  that  perhaps  the  tone  of 
his  greeting  were  not  exactly  that  which  the  oc- 
casion called  for  :  "  However,  I  suppose  you've 
either  a  good  deal  of  the  owl  in  your  composi- 
tion ;  or  else — you  know  what  the  Scriptures  say 
— '  They  love  the  darkness  rather  than  the  light, 
because  their  works  are  evil.'  " 

She  had  started  guiltily  at  the  sound  of  his 
voice,  and  perhaps  it  was  as  well  for  her  that 
the  room  was  in  darkness.  Even  his  conclud- 
ing sentence  seemed  to  have  a  peculiar  signifi- 
cance for  her.  It  was  the  old  case  of  the  cap 
fitting.  What  a  number  of  caps  we  poor 
mortals  don  in  our  time  ! 

Tom  Tredennis  laughed  not  unpleasantly, 
and  continued  rapidly :  "  However,  Chrissie, 
I'm  wasting  precious  time.  Get  me  something 
to  eat  right  away.  You've  waited  dinner  for 
me.  Oh,  bother  I  I've  shot  a  couple  of  black- 
tail  deer  up  Stony  Creek,  about  six  miles  from 
here ;  and  if  I  don't  get  back,  the  wolves  or  per- 
haps a  bear  will  have  made  a  meal  of  them. 
Parade  the  banquet.     In  the  meanwhile  I'll  go, 


56  Cbe  mcoiVs  iIMasgrounO. 

engage  one  of  our  newly  found  pedestrian 
friends,  get  a  pack-horse,  and  after  dinner  go 
back  to  where  I  left  the  deer,  and  bring  them 
here  to-night.  The  moon  is  about  full,  I 
think." 

"  All  right,  Tom ; "  and  she  hurried  away  to 
"  hurry  up  "  the  dinner  for  the  hungry  sports- 
man ;  leaving  that  individual  to  grope  his  way 
to  the  gun-room  in  the  dark,  where  he  speedily 
struck  a  light :  first  refreshing  himself  with  a 
modicum  of  mountain-dew,  and  filling  his  cigar- 
case.  He  shoved  some  explosive  cartridges 
into  his  belt,  and  made  his  way  back  to  the 
sitting-room  again. 

A  small  table  for  two  had  been  laid ;  but, 
considered  in  the  light  of  a  dinner,  it  was  a 
unique  affair.  For,  by  the  time  Mrs.  Treden- 
nis  had  finished  her  soup,  her  husband  had 
called  for,  and  finished,  his  more  substantial 
second  course  ;  and  when  Mrs.  Tredennis  had 
placed  a  small  cutlet  on  her  plate,  Tom  rose 
from  his  seat  with  the  intimation  that  "  pud- 
ding was  a  bad  thing  to  work  on,  and  she 
really  must  not  mind  him  leaving  her."' 

Mrs.  Tredennis  found  that  her  appetite  had 
gone.  She  had  tried  to  draw  her  husband  into 
conversation,  by  telling  him  that  she  had  re- 
ceived a  letter  that  morning  from  the  Dalton 
girls — whom  he  had  admired  so  much  down  in 
Montreal.  Who,  after  having  gone  through  to 
the  coast,  and  stopping  off  at  Banff,  in  the 
Rockies,  would  stop  off  and  spend  a  month  or 


Iber  IbusbanO.  57 

two  with  them ;  and  how  that,  as  his  cousin, 
Ned,  was  coming,  they  would  have  a  lively 
household.  But  her  husband  only  replied  ab- 
sently (as  if  he  had  been  asked  for  an  opinion 
on  a  totally  different  subject)  to  the  effect  that 
"  he  thought  explosive  bullets  would  be  the  best 
thing  to  take.  You  see,  one  might  meet  with  a 
bear,  which  animal  was  on  the  increase  in  certain 
parts  of  the  Cypress  Hills  (since  they  were  not 
hunted  so  much  by  the  breeds  and  Indians  as 
in  the  old  days),  and  he  wanted  to  get  a  skin 
before  they  went  back  to  England." 

When  reminded  that  it  was  not  a  bear,  but 
the  Dalton  girls  he  was  likely  to  meet  before 
long,  he  answered,  "  Yes,  yes,  the  Dalton  girls, 
very  pretty  girls,  second  or  forty-third  cousins 
of  my  own,  or  something  of  that  sort.  And 
Ned,  splendid  fellow  !  that  is  to  say,  a  splendid 
shot :  for  I  don't  think  he  is  good  for  anything 
else.  We  can  have  some  fun  together  in  the 
direction  of  the  Milk  River  Ridge,  after  the  an- 
telope. Don't  sit  up  for  me,  Chrissie :  it  will  be 
late  before  I'm  back.  Good-night,  lass."  Tom 
had  Scotch  blood  in  his  veins,  and  "  lass  "  was 
one  of  his  pet  words.  He  used  it  when  some- 
thing happened  to  please  him  ;  and  just  then 
the  chance  of  perhaps  seeing  a  bear  suggested 
itself  to  him.    Mrs.  Tredennis  called  after  him — 

"Good-night,  Tom,  and  take  care  of  your- 
self." 

Tom  went  over  to  MacMillan's  house,  where 
that  worthy  couple    and   the    men    had    just 


S8  Zbe  Devil's  plaggrounD. 

finished  supper.  The  redoubtable  Billie,  and 
Reynolds  had  gone  that  day  to  a  neighboring 
horse  ranche,  some  forty  miles  east,  to  look 
after  some  stray  horses,  and  would  not  be  back 
that  night;  so  only  Dick  Travers  and  Jack 
Holmes,  known  as  "  the  Sage,"  were  left  be- 
hind. Tom  entered  the  kitchen  with  a  pleasant 
"  good-evening,"  and  sat  down  for  a  minute. 

"  I  hardly  like  to  ask  you,"  he  said,  address- 
ing Dick  and  the  Sage,  "  as  doubtless  you've 
been  hard  at  it  all  day  ;  but  I  should  like  if  one 
of  you  would  do  me  a  favor — you  can  lie  off  all 
day  to-morrow.  I've  shot  two  blacktail  on  the 
edge  of  the  bush  up  a  coullee,  about  six  miles 
from  here,  and  if  I  don't  get  them  home  to- 
night, there's  a  chance  that  the  wolves  or  even 
a  bear  may  get  away  with  them.  Would  one 
of  you  mind  coming  with  me,  and  we'll  put  a 
pack-saddle  on  one  of  the  horses  and  fetch 
them  home ;  it's  nearly  full  moon,  and  I  know 
the  coullee  well  ?  " 

"  I  just  want  a  good  walk,"  said  Dick,  spring- 
ing to  his  feet. 

The  Sage  was  on  his  feet  the  same  instant. 
"I'm  not  going  to  be  left  out  of  this,"  he  said 
turning  to  Tredennis,  "  You  see  Dick  here 
wants  someone  to  look  after  him.  He's  young 
and  giddy,  and  might  get  fooling  with  a  bear  if 
he  met  one — some  fancied  affinity  or  something 
of  that  sort,  you  see — which  might  prove  awk- 
ward." 

"  Come  on,   then,"  laughed  their  employer. 


Der  IbusDanD.  59 

"  and  look  after  your  friend ;  the  more  the  mer- 
rier." 

They  went  out  to  the  stable  and  put  a  pack- 
saddle  on  one  of  the  quiet  horses  :  and  the  Sage 
leading  him,  and  Tom  Tredennis  shouldering 
his  Winchester,  and  looking  round  for  Dick  to 
come  up  alongside,  they  set  out,  and  walked 
southwards  down  the  Medicine-lodge  Coullee. 

It  was  a  lovely  night.  As  they  threaded 
their  way  down  the  valley,  the  sombre,  pine- 
clad  coullees  were  clearly  defined,  and  had  an 
air  of  profundity  and  grandeur  that  they  hardly 
possessed  in  the  day-time.  The  great,  bare 
peak  of  Eagle-Butte  towered  aloft  in  solemn 
state,  and  seemed  in  the  weird  moonlight  like 
some  giant  sentinel  watching  the  western  flank 
of  these  everlasting  hills.  The  silence  in  these 
regions  is  profound  enough  in  the  day-time ; 
but  at  night  it  lays  one  under  a  spell.  So  com- 
pletely and  deadly  still  does  the  world  seem, 
that  the  watcher  is  fain  to  struggle  with  himself 
as  with  a  nightmare,  and  cry  out  as  if  to  free 
himself  from  its  burden.  It  would  seem  as  if 
he  had  suddenly  been  placed  on  the  face  of  a 
dead  planet ;  and  even  the  sound  of  his  own 
voice  frightens  him,  it  sounds  so  strange  and 
unreal.  But  on  this  particular  night  there 
seemed  to  be  an  unusually  large  number  of  the 
birds  of  the  night  abroad  ;  every  now  and  again 
a  ghostly  grey  shadow  would  sweep  past 
them,  and  be  lost  in  the  gloom  again.  Then 
the  short,  harsh  screech  of  some  night  hawk 


6o  ^be  WcviVe  BMa^grounD. 

would  be  heard,  and  a  peculiar  deep  whizzing 
note,  as  it  dropped  suddenly  to  earth,  cutting 
the  air  with  its  razor-like  wing. 

"  It's  a  glorious  night,"  said  Tom  Tredennis, 
suddenly,  "  but  I  don't  think  I  would  care  to 
live  here  always  ;  in  fact,  not  at  all,  if  it  were 
not  for  the  sport.  Fifteen  or  twenty  years  ago, 
when  there  was  lots  of  big  game  in  the  country 
— buffalo  by  the  thousand,  and  antelope  in 
droves — it  must  have  been  very  different." 

"  Yes,"  broke  in  the  Sage,  "  I  should  fancy  it 
must  have  been  very  different ;  and  then  there 
was  always  the  chance  of  a  pleasurable  little  bit 
of  excitement  in  the  shape  of  getting  your  scalp- 
lock  lifted  by  some  frolicsome  Blood  Indian,  or 
innocent  Sioux.  No,  thank  you,  those  so-called 
'  good  old  days '  are  all  very  well  in  the 
abstract.  As  Byron  says,  '  All  times  when  old 
are  good  : '  he  seemed  to  understand  those 
things." 

Tredennis  laughed. 

"  There's  a  good  deal  in  what  you  say,"  he 
remarked ;  "  but,  as  the  Mounted  Police  can 
tell  you,  such  a  state  of  things  is  not  beyond 
the  bounds  of  possibility  yet.  You  must  under- 
stand, that  from  where  we  are  now,  you  can 
travel  south  through  an  uninhabited  country  for 
scores  and  scores  of  miles.  You  can  travel 
west  to  Bad  Water  Lake,  the  Paghogh-kee  of 
the  Indians,  across  the  Milk  River  Ridge  to  the 
Sweet  Grass  Hills,  and  again  towards  the  Bear 
Paw  Mountains  in  Montana,  and  not  meet  with 


■ffi)er  fjusbanJ).  6i 

a  solitary  living  thing— that  is  to  say,  a  white 
man.  In  point  of  fact  there  are  still  prowling 
bands  of  Bloods  or  Siouxs  in  these  broken 
lands,  which,  if  they  stumbled  across  you  alone, 
would  only  too  readily  relieve  you  of  your 
scalp-lock.  There  has  been  more  than  one 
cow-boy  laid  up  by  the  heels  on  this  very  same 
ranche  through  traveling  alone ;  and  I  don't 
think  that  a  year  passes  without  several  head  of 
cattle  being  killed  by  these  wandering  gentry. 
When  I  first  came  here  I  was  very  much 
amused  by  our  friend,  Billie,  always  carrying 
his  revolver  with  him ;  but  I  have  changed 
since  then,  and  I  know  I  wouldn't  do  it  myself. 
And,  by  the  way,  I  shouldn't  advise  you  fellows 
to  do  it,  either  :  I  can  lend  you  revolvers." 

And  now  they  trudged  on,  down  the  dry 
sandy  bed  of  the  creek,  and  their  conversation 
turned  on  sport.  Travers,  who  in  his  wander- 
ings in  various  back  parts  of  the  earth  had  al- 
ways gratified,  so  far  as  it  lay  in  his  power,  the 
instinctive  love  of  sport  in  his  British  nature, 
began  to  forget  the  episode  of  the  morning,  and 
to  whom  he  was  speaking.  Being  a  pleasant 
narrator,  he  related  various  strange  experiences 
of  his :  from  trailing  cannibal  blacks,  wanted 
for  murder,  with  the  Black-trackers  in  North- 
ern Queensland,  to  alligator-shooting  in  Cey- 
lon, 

"  By  Jove  !  "  Tredennis  remarked,  "  you're  a 
lucky  dog.  I  often  envy  you  rolling-stones 
who  knock  round,  here   to-day,  and   there  to- 


62  Jibe  ©evil's  iPlasgrounD. 

morrow ;  never  staying  long  enough  in  one 
place  to  out-wear  the  novelty ;  seeing  all  climes 
and  people,  and  meeting  with  all  sorts  of  ad- 
ventures and  experiences " 

"  Je-rus-alem,  Dick  !  "  interrupted  the  Sage, 
at  this  point  of  Tredennis's  dissertation,  and 
stopping  short  with  an  anxious  look  upon  his 
face,  "  there  goes  my  only  pair  of  suspenders. 
Have  you  got  such  a  thing  as  a  piece  of  string 
and  a  knife  about  you?  You  see,  Mr. 
Tredennis,"  he  remarked,  pleasantly,  as  these 
requisite  articles  were  handed  to  him,  "  this  is 
just  one  of  these  pleasant  little  experiences  you 
refer  to  ;  rather  prosaic,  but  none  the  less  of  a 
momentous  nature — as  it  happens  I've  only  one 
pair,  and  don't  possess  a  belt." 

Dick  laughed  silently;  he  knew  that  the 
Sage,  with  all  his  philosophy,  was  not  above  re- 
sorting to  a  ruse  like  this,  to  express  his  dis- 
sent. 

Tredennis  recommended  him  to  use  a  belt  in 
future  :  it  was  the  better  thing  to  ride  in,  and 
continued — 

"  Now,  so  far  as  I  am  concerned  myself,  if 
Providence  had  not  laid  me  under  certain  obli- 
gations, endowing  me  with  certain  monies  when 
I  was  a  helpless  infant,  and  which  I  know  if  I 
lived  to  the  age  of  Methuselah  I  could  never  earn 
for  myself,  I  should  have  been  a  rolling-stone. 
When  I  have  talked  with  fellows — gentlemen 
and  scholars — who  have  had  their  wits  sharp- 
ened, and  their  ideas  widened  by  contact  with 


Ibcc  Ibusband.  63 

their  fellow-men  on  the  Australian  diggings, 
and  the  African  diamond  fields,  I  have  become 
alive  to  the  fact  of  how  meagre  and  circum- 
scribed are  the  lives  of  us  stay-at-homes  after 
all.  Gaining  information  through  the  medium 
of  books,  and  profiting  by  it  through  experi- 
ence, are  two  very  different  things,  Hilloa, 
Travers  !  what's  the  matter  ?  "  Dick  was  limp- 
ing alongside  him.  That  gentleman  laughed 
in  a  low  and  embarrassed  way. 

"  I'm  sorry,"  he  said,  "  and  I  don't  want  to 
interrupt  or  delay  you,  especially  when  you  are 
paying  we  poor  rolling-stones  such  compli- 
ments ;  but  I'm  just  about  to  profit  by  one  of 
those  little  experiences  you  referred  to.  I  am 
afraid  the  sole  of  my  right  boot  is  about  to  part 
company  with  the  uppers.  Hold  on  ;  don't  do 
that." 

Tredennis  had  unbuckled  his  leather  hat- 
band, which  it  is  the  custom  to  wear  round  that 
hat  known  as  the  "  cow-boy,"  a  species  of 
broad-rimmed  felt. 

"  You  hold  hard,  and  put  your  foot  up  on 
that  rock,"  Tredennis  said,  "  it  is  a  question  of 
ways  and  means,"  and  in  a  trice  he  had  encir- 
cled the  refractory  sole  and  uppers  with  it, 
slipped  his  pocket-handkerchief  through  it, 
took  a  turn  round  Dick's  ankle  to  hold  it  in 
position,  and  knotted  it  securely  in  front,  as  if 
it  were  the  most  matter-of-fact  thing  in  the 
world. 

"  You  see,  Travers,  I've  been  '  there  before,'  " 


64  ^be  2)evil'6  iplai^groimo. 

he  said  easily.  "  Wlien  you  go  back  to  the 
ranche,  MacMillan,  who  has  a  lot  of  boots  in 
the  store,  will  be  able  to  fit  you.  In  the  mean- 
time let's  have  a  cigar ;  I've  got  some  beauties 
here — prime  Indians." 

They  lit  up  and  went  on  again. 

Then  Travers  let  his  comrade  do  the  talking. 
All  that  morning  a  strange  conflict  of  emotions 
had  been  warring  within  him.  That  bitter 
spirit  of  cynicism  and  distrust  of  human  nature, 
and  woman's  nature  in  particular,  which  had  for 
the  last  few  years  been  warping  his  better  na- 
ture, had  found  that  morning  a  culmination,  in 
his  denunciation  of  the  woman  who  had  been  the 
cause  of  this  change  in  him.  He  had  been 
brought  up  to  a  life  of  ease  and  indolence  ;  which 
was  not  perhaps  quite  in  accordance  with  one  of 
his  active  temperament.  But  the  life  had  its  in- 
fluence upon  him,  and  had  to  a  certain  extent 
unfitted  him  for  a  worldly  calling.  He  had  been 
of  a  generous  and  impulsive  nature,  only  valuing 
money  for  what  it  represented,  and  the  good  to 
which  he  was  able  to  apply  it.  There  was 
nothing  that  was  sordid  or  mean  in  his  com- 
position :  unlike  many  young  men  of  his  set  he 
had  realized  the  truth  of  the  saying,  that  it 
was  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive. 
Indeed,  it  had  often  been  a  matter  of  specula- 
tion among  his  friends,  how  that  one  who 
seemed  to  take  life  so  easily,  and  was  so  fond 
of  the  good  things  of  this  life,  could  deny  him- 
self some  pleasure,  to  gratify  what  they  con- 


1bec  IbusbanO,  65 

sidered  some  quixotic  idea  of  charity.  Perhaps 
those  who  were  most  intimate  with  him,  knew 
least  about  the  many  quiet  and^unobtrusive  acts 
of  goodness  which  sprung  from  a  generous- 
hearted  nature,  and  a  mind  that  had  more 
depth  and  fore-thought  in  it  than  is  generally 
accredited  to  youth.  When  he  suddenly  lost 
his  ample  means,  it  was  a  hard  blow  for  one 
in  his  position.  But  that  part  of  his  nature 
which  had  lain  dormant  by  the  force  of  cir- 
cumstances in  him  asserted  itself,  and  he  had 
jumped  at  the  offer  of  a  good  appointment 
abroad,  and  the  chance  of  resuscitating  his 
worldly  prospects.  He  had  offered  to  release 
the  girl  he  was  engaged  to  from  her  engage- 
ment to  him  when  the  crash  came  ;  but  she  had 
said  she  would  wait  until  he  had  made  a  home 
for  her,  in  that  distant  land  which  he  was  going 
to.  She  was  the  only  daughter  of  a  deceased 
Indian  officer,  who,  on  his  death,  with  charac- 
teristic improvidence,  had  left  her  depending 
on  the  charity  of  an  uncle  and  aunt ;  who,  with 
a  large  family  of  girls  of  their  own,  could  not 
but  look  upon  the  beautiful  but  penniless  girl  as 
simply  a  piece  of  goods,  that  must  be  put  upon 
the  market  as  soon  as  possible.  Travers  had 
gone  abroad,  and  by  hard  work  and  self-denial 
had  obtained  a  position  which  was  at  least  as 
good  as  one  in  his  altered  circumstances  could 
reasonably  expect.  And  then  came  her  heart- 
less treatment  of  him ;  no  wonder  such  a  sud- 
den revulsion  of  feeling  wrought  a  change  in 


66  XLbc  Devil's  plasQrounD. 

him.  The  house  he  had  taken  such  pains  to 
prepare  for  her,  and  every  detail  of  which  had 
been  subservient  to  one  idea — that  of  being 
pleasing  to  her — was  now  hateful  in  his  sight. 
Perhaps  there  is  a  limit  to  all  human  endur- 
ance, and  probably  he  did  brood  a  little  too 
much  over  his  hard  luck.  Anyhow,  he  left 
the  island  of  Ceylon  behind  him.  He  had 
wandered  to  various  parts  of  the  East  Indies, 
the  South  Sea  Islands,  and  New  Zealand :  en- 
gaging in  all  sorts  of  hazardous  and  unprofit- 
able expeditions,  and  had  lapsed  from  one  stage 
of  hard-upness  to  another.  All  the  time  get- 
ting more  used  to  the  life  and  feeling  his  change 
of  position  less.  He  had  ceased  to  correspond 
with  his  friends,  who  doubtless  would  have 
helped  him,  if  he  had  allowed  them  to  ;  but 
ambition  was  dead  in  him.  The  one  guiding 
star  of  his  life,  which  alone  could  have  kept  him 
in  the  beaten  paths  of  respectability,  and  devel- 
oped all  that  was  good  in  him,  had  set.  He  had 
become  what  he  now  was,  a  man  of  no  particu- 
lar vices,  but  in  whom  that  nomadic  spirit, 
more  or  less  latent  in  all  our  natures,  was 
hurrying  along  on  its  aimless  current.  There 
had  been  a  time  when  to  think  of  this  man — 
Tredennis — now  walking  beside  him,  had  been 
to  rouse  an  evil  spirit  within  him.  He  had 
looked  upon  him  as  one  who  had  stolen  from 
him  the  one  thing  he  had  valued  most  in  life. 
Then,  in  his  calmer  moments,  when  he  came 
to  consider  that  it  was  the  woman,  and  not  the 


Iber  "tousbanD.  ()i 

man  who  was  the  transgressor.  When  he 
thought  that  one  who  had  ruthlessly  broken 
faith  with  him,  and  betrayed  him,  could  not 
possibly  keep  it  with  one  who  was  so  much 
older,  and  whose  tastes  were  so  dissimilar  to 
hers — whom,  indeed,  she  had  only  married  for 
the  sake  of  position,  curiously  enough  his 
sentiments  had  changed  to  almost  that  of  pity. 
For,  he  considered,  she  must  of  necessity  be 
false  to  this  man  in  her  heart.  A  remarkable 
chain  of  circumstances  had  thrown  Tredennis 
and  him  together ;  and  though  at  first  he 
experienced  a  strange  shrinking  from  him,  still 
he  felt  there  was  a  subtle  bond  of  union 
between  them.  The  little  he  had  seen  of  this 
man  was  prepossessing ;  for  Tredennis,  with 
all  his  tautology  and  brusqueness,  was  a  gentle- 
man, and  one  who  was  quick  to  recognize  and 
respect  that  quality  in  others  (no  matter  what 
their  position)  whom  circumstances  had  thrown 
in  his  way.  Already,  with  that  sense  of  justice 
which  neither  worldly  wrongs  nor  misfortunes 
can  eradicate  from  the  Anglo-Saxon  nature,  and 
which  has  blood  for  its  ground-work,  Dick 
Travers  felt  grateful  to  him,  and  felt  drawn  to 
the  man  whom  he  had  often  thought  he  must 
necessarily  hate. 

"  Now,  here  we  are  at  Stony  Creek,"  said 
Tredennis ;  "  another  mile,  and  we  are  at  the 
place  where  I  shot  the  deer." 


CHAPTER  V. 

BRUIN  AT  BAY. 

It  was  a  wildly  irregular  rent  in  the  great 
pine-clad  plateau  or  bench,  that  rose  some 
thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  valley. 
The  rugged  sides  bristled  with  great  pine-trees, 
and  the  bed  of  the  water-course — a  roaring 
torrent  in  the  spring,  and  a  dry  gravel  bed  in 
the  fall — rose  gradually  between  overhanging 
rocks,  and  great  gloomy  arches  of  rank  and 
tangled  undergrowth.  Tredennis  led  the  way 
in  silence,  his  two  companions  following.  The 
first-named  individual  had  put  several  explosive 
cartridges  into  the  magazine  of  his  Winches- 
ter ;  for,  as  he  had  said,  the  coullee  had  always 
borne  a  name  for  the  large  cinnamon  bear, 
which  a  number  of  hunters  classify  with  the 
dangerous  grizzly.  It  was  a  ravine  which  it 
required  much  caution  to  ascend  in  the  day- 
time, and  even  then,  as  Travers  thought,  if  he 
wanted  to  look  for  bear,  it  should  have  been 
from  some  vantage  ground  in  the  rocks  above, 
and  not  in  the  bed  of  the  stream  that  he  would 
have  looked  for  them.  And  now  in  the  decep- 
tive moonlight  it  was  laborious  traveling.      It 


JBcufn  at  aSa^.  69 

was  up,  up,  up,  in  the  mystic  light  and  shadow. 
And  now,  the  valley  they  had  left  behind  them 
was  lost  in  a  thin,  pale  mist,  and  still  that  dark 
breach  in  front  of  them  seemed  to  rise  sheer 
up,  and  pierce  right  into  the  heart  of  the  moun- 
tain. There  was  a  slight  moaning  in  the  upper 
reaches  amongst  the  pines,  and  it  grew  chilly. 
Travers  in  his  thin  thread-bare  coat  was  shiver- 
ing, and  the  Sage  was  strangely  silent.  The 
wild  and  eerie  nature  of  their  surroundings 
seemed  to  affect  their  spirits. 

At  last  the  ravine  took  a  sudden  turn,  and 
they  found  themselves  in  a  large,  shallow  and 
circular  hollow,  fringed  with  a  dark,  dense  belt 
of  pine-trees. 

"  Now,  stop  here  with  the  pack-horse," 
Tredennis  whispered  to  Holmes.  "  I  left  the 
deer  about  a  couple  of  hundred  yards  or  so 
over  there.  You'd  better  not  come,  Travers. 
I  was  a  fool  not  to  make  you  fetch  a  rifle  with 
you.  I  generally  think  about  a  thing  when  it 
is  too  late."  And  he  went  stealthily  up  the 
creek  bottom. 

The  little  breath  of  air  that  stirred  came 
right  down  the  gully,  so  there  was  no  fear  of 
game  scenting  them  should  there  be  any  in  the 
vicinity.  Dick  could  not  resist  the  temptation 
of  following  close  on  Tredennis,  in  the  shadow. 
Besides,  he  knew — having  often  stalked  bear 
before — that  this  brute,  though  possessed  of  a 
cunning  that  is  unsurpassed  in  the  animal 
kingdom,  will  at  times  when  it  is  engaged  in 


70  Zbc  2)ev>U's  IPla^grounD. 

grubbing  up  roots  or  in  devouring  its  prey, 
neither  appear  to  see  nor  hear  the  approach  of 
an  enemy,  until  that  enemy  is  close  upon  it. 
So  much  so  in  fact  have  some  hunters  remarked 
this,  that  they  have  ventured  to  ascribe  a 
peculiarity  of  vision  to  it,  and  to  assert  that  it  is 
the  sense  of  smell  on  which  the  bear  depends, 
to  inform  itself  of  the  presence  of  an  enemy. 
In  reality  the  bear  is  quick  to  hear. 

They  crawled  on  about  another  hundred 
yards  or  so,  and  then  the  banks  of  the  creek 
got  so  low  that  one  could  have  looked  over 
them.  Tredennis  raised  himself  cautiously, 
and  looked  over  the  bank.  In  another  instant 
he  ducked  his  head,  and  looked  back  at  Dick. 
His  face  had  paled  slightly,  and  his  eyes 
sparkled  with  suppressed  excitement.  Still  he 
was  as  cool  as  a  cucumber ;  it  was  evident  to 
Dick,  that  this  man  at  least  was  not  troubled 
with  "buckfever." 

"  Get  back,"  he  said,  "  for  goodness'  sake  ! 
There's  a  big  beggar  not  eighty  j'ards  off.  He 
has  collared  one  of  the  deer,  and  is  carrying  it 
away.  As  soon  as  you  hear  me  fire,  get  up  a 
tree,  or  anywhere  out  of  the  road  ;  they're  dan- 
gerous when  they're  wounded.  I'll  crawl  up 
out  of  this  on  to  the  bank,  and  try  to  get  a  bead 
on  him." 

"  Then  don't  forget  to  aim  low :  in  moon- 
light there's  always  a  tendency  to  fire  high — 
try  behind  the  ear,  or  well  behind  the  left  shoul- 
der if  you  can  ;  and  try  to  get  a  couple  of  shots 
in  before  he  sees  you.     Good  luck." 


ascuin  at  JSa^,  71 

And  Dick,  who  felt  as  much  interest  in  the 
issue  as  Tredennis  did  himself,  watched  the 
latter  crawl  on  all  fours  out  of  sight,  and  held 
'his  breath  in  suspense.  The  idea  of  taking  to 
a  tree  never  once  entered  his  head. 

It  was  a  curious  turn  in  the  wheel  of  fate ; 
and  if  any  one  had  told  him  a  couple  of  days 
before,  that  in  less  than  that  time,  he  would  be 
whispering  such  instructions  into  the  ear  of 
this  one  man  above  all  others,  he  would  have 
laughed  with  scornful  incredulity.  And  now 
as  he  lay  waiting  for  the  sharp  ping  of  this 
man's  rifle,  so  undreamt-of  and  strange  were 
the  surroundings,  such  an  air  of  unreality 
seemed  to  encompass  them,  and  there  had 
been  such  a  crowding  of  unexpected  events 
into  the  last  twenty-four  hours,  that  he  almost 
expected  to  wake  up  any  minute  and  to  find 
that  he  had  only  been  having  a  remarkably 
vivid  dream. 

Dick  shivered  in  the  chill  moonlight.  The 
slight  breeze  that  whispered  among  the  pines 
had  a  moost  uncanny  sound.  The  moonlight 
was  intense ;  threw  every  object  exposed  to  its 
glare  into  strong  relief,  and  accentuated  the 
shadows.  These,  again,  assumed  grotesque, 
phantasmal  shapes,  and  gave  one  the  idea  that 
they  were  the  genii  of  the  mountain,  who  were 
lurking  there  with  sinister  designs.  A  little 
bird  awoke  among  the  boughs  overhead,  and, 
under  the  impression  that  it  had  overslept  it- 
self, and  that  it  was  broad  daylight,  broke  into  a 
shrill  treble  of  song.     How  sharply  and  coldly 


72  Zbe  ©evil's  iPlaggrounD. 

the  stars  away  up  there  in  the  dark  blue 
gleamed.  How  spectral  and  far-off  the  oppo- 
site bank  of  the  couUee  appeared  to  be.  Was 
Tredennis  never  going  to  shoot .''  It  seemed  an 
age  since  he  left.  Dick,  in  spite  of  his  instruc- 
tions, crawled  a  few  paces  forwards  and  looked 
over  the  bank. 

At  first  he  could  see  nothing  but  the  dark  en- 
circling fringe  of  pines,  then  he  looked  cau- 
tiously a  little  more  to  the  right,  and  there  he 
saw  something  that  quickened  his  pulses  and 
made  him  draw  his  breath  a  little  more  quickly. 
A  huge  dark  shape,  that  seemed  to  have  a 
hump  over  its  shoulders  and  another  upon  its 
hindquarters,  was  busily  engaged  dragging  a 
prostrate  body  along  the  ground.  It  did  not 
seem  to  be  in  a  hurry,  but  would  occasionally 
relinquish  its  hold,  and  marching  round  its 
property  would  sniff  all  about  with  its  nose 
close  to  the  ground.  Dick  saw  that  it  was  a 
huge  cinnamon  bear.  He  looked  a  little  more 
to  the  right,  and  he  could  see  another  dark  ob- 
ject crawling  slowly  and  cautiously  towards  it. 
It  was  Tredennis,  making  sure  of  his  game  by 
trying  to  get  as  close  to  it  as  possible,  without 
being  seen.  Dick  lost  sight  of  him  behind  a 
fallen  pine.  It  was  deadly  still  now.  Sud- 
denly a  stick  cracked  ominously  behind  that 
prostrate  pine ;  the  bear  lifted  its  head,  stood 
stock-still  for  an  instant,  and  seemed  to  sniff 
the  air. 

Then  a  blaze  of  lurid  light,  a  deafening  re- 


JBruin  at  asa^.  73 

port,  and  a  thousand  rattling,  pealing  echoes 
rolled  down  the  coullee,  and  broke  the  brooding 
stillness  in  a  startling  and  hideous  fashion. 
The  bear  ran  a  few  steps  forwards,  and  looked 
over  its  shoulder.  If  hit  at  all,  it  carried  the 
bullet  as  only  a  bear  can  carry  one.  Another 
thundering  report,  and  it  dropped  upon  its 
knees.  Dick,  in  spite  of  his  instructions,  ran 
towards  Tredennis,  who  rose  to  his  feet,  and 
stepped  over  the  fallen  pine,  at  the  same  time 
pumping  another  cartridge  into  the  barrel  of 
his  Winchester.  The  bear  suddenly  recovered 
itself,  and  facing  about  espied  its  enemy,  ran  a 
few  paces  towards  him  with  remarkable  swift- 
ness, and  then  raised  itself  up  on  its  hind  legs. 

Then  someone  gasped — "  In  the  name  of  all 
that  is  merciful,  what  is  the  matter  with  Tre- 
dennis's  rifle  ?  " 

With  a  horrible  sinking  at  his  heart,  Dick 
saw  him  trying  to  force  the  lever  back  into  its 
place ;  but  evidently  the  cartridge  had  got 
jammed  in  the  carriage.  These  were  terrible 
moments  ;  the  huge  brute  came  towards  him 
with  great,  ungainly  strides — Tredennis  moving 
slowly  backwards  before  it.  Dick  shouted  to 
attract  the  attention  of  the  bear,  but  it  only 
turned  its  head  slightly,  paused  for  a  second, 
and  advanced  again.  Horror  of  horrors,  it 
would  strike  him  down  with  one  of  its  great 
lever-like  paws  in  another  second  !  Suddenly, 
the  hunter  shot  headlong  and  backwards  across 
the  fallen  pine,  and  his  rifle  flew  from  his  hand. 


7A  Z'oz  Devirs  iPlasgrounD. 

Dick  never  could  recollect  clearly  afterwards, 
how  he  did  it ;  and  though  the  whole  incident 
could  not  have  occupied  more  than  a  few  sec- 
onds of  time,  it  seemed  to  the  principals  in  it  to 
last  for  an  eternity.  To  have  recked  of  any 
danger,  or  to  have  delayed  a  second,  would 
have  been  certain  death  for  one  or  other  of 
them.  He  sprang  forward,  caught  up  the  rifle, 
gave  the  cartridge  a  sharp  knock  downwards 
with  the  side  of  his  hand,  released  the  cart- 
ridge, and  closed  the  lever  with  his  left  hand. 
Without  having  time  to  take  deliberate  aim,  he 
discharged  its  contents  under  the  shoulder  of 
the  huge  brute,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
heart.  It  tottered  for  a  minute  unsteadily  upon 
its  legs.  What  a  wicked  intelligence  in  these 
angry  little  eyes  that  glared  in  the  moonlight ! 
To  pump  another  cartridge  up  and  fire  again 
was  the  work  of  an  instant,  and  the  bear  fell 
forwards  heavily,  an  inert  mass,  only  by  a  few 
inches  missing  Tredennis,  who  lay  sprawling 
on  his  back. 

"  Guess,"  as  our  friends  across  the  lines 
would  say,  "  it  was  a  '  tight  fit,'  "  remarked  Dick, 
as  he  sat  down  on  the  prostrate  pine,  and  drew 
his  hand  across  his  forehead  as  if  to  clear  his 
faculties  ;  at  the  same  time  watching  with  not 
a  little  amusement  Tredennis  disengage  him- 
self from  the  pine  boughs,  and  scramble  in  con- 
sternation to  his  feet.  He  breathed  freely  now, 
and  the  encounter  had  seemed  to  dispel  the  air 
of  unreality,  that  before  had  seemed  to  envelop 


'UNDER  THE  SHOULUEK  OK  THb:  HUGE  BRUTE." 
Page  "14. 


JScuin  at  J3a^.  75 

everythingf.  The  excitement  had  done  him 
good  ;  the  reaction  from  his  former  morbid 
state  of  mind  had  set  in,  and  he  felt  a  different 
man. 

In  another  minute,  Holmes,  with  a  face  that 
looked  ghastly  in  the  moonlight,  and  perched 
on  the  top  of  the  pack-horse,  cantered  up.  It 
was  perilous  ground  to  canter  over  ;  but  it  was 
the  bear,  and  not  the  ground  the  Sage  was 
thinking  of  just  then.  However,  it  was  the 
other  way  about  with  the  horse  ;  but  then  the 
Sage  could  not  be  expected  to  provide  for  every 
contingency.  What  followed  savored  of  broad 
farce. 

"  Look  out,  Jack  !  "  yelled  Dick.  But  Jack 
was  too  late ;  for  with  that  wild  terror  which 
all  horses  have  of  a  bear,  either  alive  or  dead — 
even  the  slightest  scent  of  one  will  suffice — the 
scared  animal  plunged  violently.  It  reared  up 
on  its  hind  legs,  and  the  Sage  was  hanging  on 
by  the  mane.  Again  it  recovered  its  perpen- 
dicular ;  but  in  another  second.  Holmes  was 
sent  flying  headlong  right  into  the  arms  of  Tre- 
dennis,  and  bowled  that  gentleman  over  like  a 
nine-pin,  back  among  the  pine-boughs. 

It  was  too  much  for  Dick,  who  roared  again 
at  the  ludicrous  spectacle  which  the  two  pre- 
sented, as  they  disentangled  themselves,  and 
rose  ruefully  to  their  feet. 

"  The  deuce  take  you,  man  !  "  said  Treden- 
nis  to  the  sorely  surprised  youth,  and  feeling 
himself  all  over,  "  Yoii  needn't  fly  into  my  arms 


76  Zbc  Devil's  iIMaigground. 

like  that.  If  you're  beside  yourself  with  joy 
over  my  recent  deliverance  you  should  learn  to 
control  your  emotions.  You've  squashed  my 
cigar-case  as  flat  as  a  pancake,  not  to  speak  of 
the  damage  you've  done  to  my  interior  econ- 
omy." 

But  he  laughed  good-naturedly  at  the  same 
time,  and  seemed  rather  to  have  enjoyed  the 
mishap  than  otherw^ise — at  least,  so  far  as  it 
■was  possible  to  enjoy  an  accident  of  the  kind. 

"  Really,  sir,  I'm  exceedingly  sorry "  be- 
gan the  Sage,  but  Tredennis  cut  him  short. 
"  Oh  !  nonsense,  Holmes  ;  a  little  variety  enter- 
tainment of  this  nature  is  rather  refreshing, 
after  what  was  nearly  turning  out  to  be  a  trag- 
edy.    How's  your  poor  head  .''  " 

This  little  incident  served  to  distract  the 
minds  of  the  hunters  from  their  late  danger ; 
and  as  Dick  had  caught  the  pack-horse  again, 
and  had  taken  it  round  to  the  windward  side  of 
the  dead  bear,  they  turned  their  attention  to  it. 

But  Tredennis  had  evidently  something  to 
say  to  Dick. 

"  I  say,  Travers,"  he  said,  "  I  don't  suppose 
you  like  speechifying  any  more  than  I  do  ;  but 
I  want  you  to  know  that  I  am  sensible  of  what 
your  pluck  has  done  for  me.  I  only  hope  that 
in  the  future  you  will  reckon  me  as  a  friend, 
and  not  forget  to  call  upon  me  as  such,  should 
you  ever  have  occasion  to.  I  don't  think  it's 
necessary  to  say  anything  more  at  present." 

Tredennis  resembled  the  sailor's  parrot,  in 


JBcutn  at  :fi3aB.  n 

that  if  he  did  not  say  much,  he  thought  a  good 
deal. 

"Pshaw!"  said  Dick,  " you  are  over- rating 
this  affair."  He  could  not  for  the  life  of  him 
see  that  he  had  done  anything  out  of  the  com- 
mon. "  When  you  brought  him  down  on  his 
knees  that  time,  you  did  all  any  man  could  be 
expected  to  do  ;  you  can  blame  your  Winches- 
ter for  the  rest.  Anyhow,  one  might  bury  a 
dozen  of  bullets  in  their  fat  and  not  hurt  them. 
It  was  simply  lucky  that  I  should  have  had 
some  experience  with  rifles.  I  knew  I  could 
fix  it  in  a  jiffey.  But  we  must  bleed  this  chap. 
I  should  say  there  is  close  on  four  hundred 
pounds  of  good  beef-steak  on  his  ribs  anyhow." 

It  was  a  splendid  specimen  of  the  cinnamon 
bear.  As  they  had  no  means  of  taking  home 
the  carcase,  they  decided  to  pack  back  the 
blacktail,  and  to  come  back  next  day  with  pro- 
per means  of  conveying  it.  And  now,  as  a 
slight  frost  had  set  in,  they  lost  no  time  in  plac- 
ing the  blacktail  on  the  back  of  the  pack-horse, 
and  in  the  best  of  spirits  started  out  upon  their 
homeward  march. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
"I  don't  think  she's  happy  with  him." 

The  chill  and  wan-eyed  morning  came  at 
last,  scattering  the  furtive,  mis-shapen  shadows 
that  lurked  in  sinister  places,  and  causing  the 
silvery  frost  to  sparkle  on  the  prairie.  It  w^as 
the  first  frost  of  the  season,  and  Travers 
shivered  in  his  old  coat  as  he  approached  the 
ranche.  They  took  the  deer  to  a  large  under- 
ground cellar  near  the  house,  and  hung  them 
up.  Jack  Holmes  was  leading  the  horse  off  to 
the  stable,  and  Dick  was  going  with  him 
when  Tredennis  stopped  him. 

"  Hold  hard,  Travers,  you're  not  going  away 
like  that.  You  must  come  in  and  have  a  little 
Scotch  medicine  ;  you're  chilled  I  can  see.  I 
say.  Holmes,  just  shove  that  horse  in  the  stable 
and  hurry  up." 

"  I'd  rather  you'd  excuse  me,"  began  Dick, 
"  for  though  I'm  as  fond  of  drink  as  the  next 
man  generally,  still  I  don't  feel  like  one  now — " 

"  Nonsense  !  "  interrupted  Tredennis ;  "  the 
occasion  permits  of  no  excuse:  it  would  be  con- 
trary to  all  precedent.  What  is  more,"  he  con- 
tinued, perhaps  partly  divining  the  scruples  of 


**f  Don't  ^WnK  sbe'3  TDappg/-      79 

his  employee,  "  there's  no  necessity  to  disturb 
any  one.    Come  round  this  way." 

To  have  refused  under  the  circumstances, 
would  have  been  to  disappoint  the  good-natured 
fellow  ;  and  as  he  himself  said,  "  would  have 
been  contrary  to  all  precedent  on  such  an  aus- 
picious occasion."  He  led  the  way  around  the 
front  of  the  house ;  his  unwilling  guest  feeling 
unaccountably  ill  at  ease.  But  he  felt  more 
ill  at  ease  in  another  minute,  when  they  dis- 
covered a  light  burning  in  that  room,  which  was 
unique  among  other  rooms  in  the  Northwest  in 
that  it  possessed  a  French  window.  Near  the 
light,  which  was  wan  and  strange  in  the  more 
powerful  daylight,  and  at  a  table,  her  head 
resting  on  one  hand,  and  gazing  as  it  were  into 
space,  sat  a  woman ;  and  in  her,  Tredennis 
recognized  his  wife.  He,  however,  betrayed  no 
surprise ;  only  an  impatient  ejaculation  escaped 
him.  So  oblivious  did  the  figure  seem  to  every- 
thing around,  and  so  immovable,  that  for  a 
minute  Dick  thought  she  must  be  asleep.  A 
book,  back  upwards,  lay  alongside  her. 

"The  idea!"  Tredennis  exclaimed,  "she 
must  have  sat  up  all  night.  Who  would  have 
thought  women  were  so  silly.  This  way, 
Travers." 

This  individual  had  stood  stock-still  at  the 
sight  of  the  lonely  figure  ;  and  now,  with  a  rush, 
the  returning  flood  of  conflicting  emotions  that 
had  so  exercised  him  the  day  before,  and  which, 
»he  excitement  of  the  past  night  had    for  the 


8o  ^be  Devil's  iPlaBgrounO. 

time  being  caused  him  to  forget,  now  once 
more  took  possession  of  him.  But  to  have 
drawn  baclc,  would  only  have  been  to  excite 
remark.  Moreover,  deliberate  flight  would  not 
have  been  in  accordance  with  that  vantage 
ground  of  moral  superiority  and  resolute  im- 
passiveness  which  he  intended  to  adopt  as  his 
role,  if  by  any  chance  she  would  be  thrown  in 
his  way.  They  passed  in  by  the  front  door, 
and  were  already  well  within  the  wide  passage 
when,  hearing  them,  she  started  up,  and  run- 
ning to  the  door  met  them. 

"  Oh,  Tom,  I  am  so  glad  you  are  back " 

she  began ;  then  the  words  died  upon  her  lips. 
For  a  second  there  was  a  scared  and  strange 
look  in  her  eyes  as  she  met  those  of  Dick's. 
But  the  latter  only  regarded  her  with  the 
stoniest  irrecognition  that  he  could  muster. 
Tredennis  spoke. 

"  Why,  Chrissie,  you  look  as  if  you  had  been 
dreaming  ;  what  on  earth  possessed  you  to  sit 
up  all  night  ?  I  have  been  out  dozens  of  times 
before,  and  you  didn't  bother  about  me.  But, 
my  dear,  here's  some  one  I  want  to  introduce 
you  to  ;  I  told  you  about  him  before.  My  wife — 
Mr.  Travers.  Had  it  not  been  for  Mr.  Travers 
you  would  have  been  a  full-fledged  widow 
this  morning,  Chrissie  ;  but  I'll  tell  you  all  about 
it  some  other  time  ;  in  the  meantime  we're 
perishing  with  cold.'' 

"  Mr.  Tredennis  will  have  it  that  I  rendered 
him  some  service,"    Dick   said,  bowing   coldly, 


"IF  Don't  Ublnft  sbe's  Ibappig."      Si 

though  courteously,  as  if  he  were  addressing 
the  veriest  stranger  ;  "  but  when  he  comes  to 
think  over  it,  he  will  find  that  it  was  nothing 
more  than  a  very  ordinary  hunting  incident 
indeed." 

She  had  looked  up  into  his  face  for  a  moment 
in  a  quick,  pleased  way — that  way  in  which  a 
woman  can  express  her  thoughts  so  much 
better  than  in  words.  But  she  checked  herself 
in  another  second,  and  in  a  manner  that  unac- 
countably annoyed  her  husband,  said  simply  : 

"  Then  I  hope  you  will  not  suffer  from  your 
night's  experience,  Mr  Travers.  I  am  afraid 
my  husband  has  been  victimizing  you,  but 
trust  he  will  be  sufficiently  grateful,  however, 
for  what  you  have  done.  If  you  want  any  hot 
water,  Tom,  I'll  fetch  it  from  the  kitchen.  I 
thought  you  would  be  coming  home  cold  and 
requiring  some,  so  kept  a  fire  up ;  one  can't 
expect  servants  to  do  these  things,  no  matter 
how  willing  they  may  be." 

And  she  went  off  to  return  with  a  small 
brass  kettle  of  steaming  water,  which  she 
handed  to  him.  Her  manner  was  cool  and 
collected  enough  by  this  time  ;  and  there  was 
not  the  slightest  trace  of  any  embarrassment, 
which  the  presence  of  Travers  might  have  oc- 
casioned her.  Probably  she  overdid  her  part, 
for  the  very  brusqueness  of  manner  which  she 
assumed,  and  the  coolness  with  which  she 
treated  her  husband's  guest,  were  too  pro- 
nounced not  to  be   remarked   by  honest  Tom, 


82  XLbc  WcviVs  IPlai^grounD. 

who  looked  bewildered,  ran  his  hand  through 
his  hair,  and  almost  committed  himself  by  giv- 
ing vent  to  his  feelings  in  a  low  whistle.  She 
could  not  hide  the  strained  look  in  her  eyes 
from  Dick,  however,  who  regarded  her  curiously. 
But  in  a  few  minutes  the  feelings  of  Tredennis 
were  much  relieved,  and  he  had  occasion  to 
think  he  must  have  magnified  his  wife's  appar- 
ent discourtesy  to  his  guest ;  for  Holmes,  having 
got  rid  of  his  horse,  and  his  subsequent  behavior 
changed  the  aspect  of  affairs.  Unlike  his  com- 
panion, there  was  no  reason  why  he  should 
deny  himself  much-needed  refreshment.  So, 
hurrying  round  to  the  front  of  the  house, 
to  avoid  if  possible  being  behind  time,  he  en- 
tered the  porch,  and  was  fingering  the  handle 
of  the  front  door,  when,  suddenly  recollecting 
that  it  was  hardly  the  manner  in  which  to  enter 
the  house  of  his  employer,  he  paused.  Just 
then  the  door  opened,  and  a  lady  stood  there' 
who  looked  inquiringly  at  him.  She  evidently 
realized  the  situation,  and  at  the  sight  of  his 
puzzled  gaze  allowed  a  smile  to  dawn  upon  her 
face,  and  a  low  laugh  to  ripple  from  her  lips. 
For  a  second  the  lively  fancy  of  the  Sage  ran 
riot.  Truly,  he  had  a  glimpse  of  a  handsome, 
thoroughbred  English  girl ;  and  his  thoughts 
ran  back  to  some  Belgravian  drawing-room. 
Perhaps  it  was  to  see  any  lady  at  all — here,  in 
the  land  of  the  Philistines — that  took  him  so 
much  aback. 
"  I  beg  your  pardon,  I   think   I   have  been 


"11  Don't  C:binft  sbe's  Ibapp^."      83 

rather  precipitate  ;  but  I "  and  the  Sage,  for 

at  least  once  in  his  life,  wandered  off  into  the 
unhappy  hunting  grounds  of  obscure  speech. 
But  Mrs.  Tredennis  came  to  his  relief. 

"  Oh,  come  in,  Mr.  Holmes ;  for  I  know  who 
you  are.  You  must  think  me  very  rude ;  but 
I've  a  vagrant  sort  of  fancy,  and  your  appear- 
ance brought  a  very  amusing  incident  to  my 
recollection." 

"  Savoring  of  vagrancy,  I  should  say,"  sug- 
gested the  Sage,  now  somewhat  reassured, 
"  and  suggestive  of  the  cloaks  and  umbrellas — 
Yes,  that  did  dawn  upon  me,  and  no  doubt  lent 
a  certain  appearance  of  guilt  to  a  not  exactly 
respectable  exterior." 

"  Well,  anyhow,  appearances  were  against 
you,"  she  admitted  laughingly. 

She  had  not,  as  in  the  case  of  his  companion, 
scanned  in  a  second,  and  noted  the  threadbare 
appearance  of  his  tout  ensemble.  But  she  had 
recognized  intuitively  that  she  was  speaking  to 
one  who  was  her  equal  by  birth  ;  and  perhaps 
she  could  not  have  done  otherwise,  under  the 
circumstances,  than  have  placed  him  upon  an 
equal  footing,  and  dispensed  with  convention- 
ality. 

In  the  adjoining  room,  Tredennis  had  paused 
in  the  act  of  warming  a  couple  of  glasses,  when 
he  heard  their  voices  in  the  passage,  and  invol- 
untarily looked  at  Dick,  with  just  a  trace  of 
anxiety  on  his  face ;  for  he  had  been  annoyed 
and  unable  to  account  for  his  wife's  reception  of 


84  Ube  WeviVs  iplaggrounD. 

Travers.  But  now  he  was  relieved  that  she  at 
least  welcomed  "  the  other  one  "  as  he  termed 
Holmes.  He  had  just  come  to  the  conclusion, 
that  it  was  because  he  had  not  made  enough 
fuss  about  her  having  sat  up  all  night  for  him, 
and  that  to  retaliate  she  had  shown  her  disap- 
proval of  his  early  entertainment  of  guests- 
poor  Tom  !  In  his  satisfaction  he  shouted  out 
loud  enough  for  them  to  hear — 

"  Now  then,  Holmes,  that  isn't  right  you 
know — taking  advantage  of  my  being  engaged. 
You've  either  got  to  come  and  take  your  medi- 
cine, or  stay  where  you  are  and  do  without." 

"  Then  I'll  do  without,  if  you  have  no  objec- 
tions," answered  the  Sage,  promptly,  and 
looking  at  Mrs.  Tredennis,  who  smiling,  paused 
as  if  to  listen. 

"That  is  just  where  the  shoe  pinches," 
Tredinnis  called  back.  "  I  have  very  strong 
objections  ;  your  presence  is  urgently  required 
here."  And  there  was  a  mock  entreaty  in  his 
voice. 

"  Much  he  cares,  anyhow ! "  sprang  to  the 
lips  of  Mrs.  Tredennis :  and  although  these 
words  were  evidently  intended  to  be  taken  in 
jest,  they  ill  accorded  with  the  expression  on 
her  face  just  then.  It  was  evident  that  she 
regretted  the  speech ;  for  with  but  a  sorry 
attempt  at  a  smile  she  said — 

"  Perhaps  after  all,  Mr.  Holmes,  you'd  better 
go.  I  am  obliged  to  you  for  the  compliment 
you  have  paid  me.     Perhaps  we  will  try  you 


"  II  Don't  tTbinft  sbc's  Ibapps."      85 

some  other  time,  when  the  exigencies  of  the 
case  don't  call  for  such  an  exercise  of  self-denial. 
Good-morning." 

She  bowed  smilingly  and  passed  into  the  next 
room. 

As  the  Sage  watched  her  pass,  a  quiet,  dry 
smile  dwelt  upon  his  face  for  an  instant.  But 
he  took  care  to  alter  its  expression  as  he  entered 
the  gun-room,  where  he  was  welcomed  cheerily 
by  Tredennis. 

When  Dick  and  Holmes  passed  out  of  the 
house  and  made  their  way  to  MacMillan's,  the 
former,  as  was  his  wont,  was  silent  and  pre- 
occupied ;  but  the  Sage  was  evidently  turning 
over  something  in  his  mind.  Dick  looked  at 
him  inquiringly,  and  the  Sage  immediately 
began  to  talk.  Probably  the  former,  with  his 
knowledge  of  the  world,  and  the  Sage  in  partic- 
ular, had  in  his  mind  a  certain  little  psycholog- 
ical dissertation  which  the  youth  had  treated 
him  to  a  couple  of  days  before,  and  was  now 
playing  a  part  from  contradictory  motives, 

"  By  Jove,  Dick,  is  she  not  a  surprise  ?  "  said 
the  youthful  admirer  of  the  fair  sex.  "  You 
might  have  knocked  me  down  with  a  feather, 
as  they  say,  when  I  saw  her.  She  is  one  of 
the  best  looking  women  I've  seen  on  this  con- 
tinent :  or  any  other  for  the  matter  of  that !  " 

"  I  suppose  you  allude  to  Mrs.  Tredennis  ?  " 
Dick  queried,  wearily. 

"  Why,  of  course,  who  else  could  I  mean  ? 
I  never  met  such  a  chap  as  you,  Dick.     I  don't 


86  Zbe  BcviVs  iPla^grounD. 

believe  there  ever  has  been  a  vi'oman,  or  ever 
will  be  one,  who  will  arouse  in  you  the  faintest 
suspicion  of  passing  interest." 

"  You  think  so  ?  "  was  the  absent  rejoinder. 

"  You've  just  proved  it  !  "  promptly  returned 
the  Sage.  "  Why,  man,  she  would  charm  the 
heart  of  a  stone.  She  is  as  lively  as  a  girl  of 
sixteen  ;  I  could  hardly  believe  at  first  that  she 
was  a  married  woman,  and  married  to  such  an 
old  sober-sides  as  Tredennis.     But  I  can't  quite 

understand "  and  here  the  Sage   broke   off 

shortly,  knit  his  brows,  looked  serious  for  a 
minute,  and  continued  a  little  more  slowly — 

"  There's  a  something  about  her,  though,  I 
don't  quite  understand.  I  say,  Dick," — and  at 
this  point  he  came  to  a  dead  stop  and  looked 
his  companion  gravely  in  the  face — "  I  don't 
think  she's  happy  with  him.  She  said  some- 
thing to  me  in  the  hall  that  will  only  bear  one 
construction — she  came  out  with  it  in  an  un- 
guarded moment,  and  only  confirmed  my  sus- 
picions by  trying  to  patch  it  up." 

"  Pshaw,  man,  you're  trying  to  work  up  a 
romance,  and  make  a  mountain  out  of  a  mole- 
hill ! " 

"  No,  Dick,  by  the  father  of  the  cock  that 
crew  to  Peter,  I  am  not !  "  was  the  deliberate 
reply.  "  Because  your  heart's  like  a  stone,  or 
because  you've  parted  with  it  to  a  barmaid,  or 
some  girl  in  a  tobacconist's  shop,  long  ago,  and 
you're  a  few  paltry  years  older  than  I  am,  you 
think  you  know  better.     But  with  all  due  def- 


**  II  Don't  ^binft  sbe's  Ibapps."      87 

erence  to  your  grey  hairs,  I  believe  I  understand 
women  better  than  you.  I'm  afraid  there's  a 
screw  loose  somewhere  in  that  marriage.  That 
woman  has  made  a  mistake,  and  is  finding  it 
out.  Tredennis  is  one  of  those  real  good  fel- 
lows, as  they  call  them ;  but  I  don't  think  he's 
the  sort  of  man  to  please  a  woman  like  her. 
She  is  one  of  those  women  who  have  a  natural 
hankering  after  sympathy;  and  she  doesn't  get 
any  from  him.     I  wish  I  were  in  his  shoes." 

"  'The  greatest  mistake  of  all,'  "  began  Dick, 
in  a  dry,  pedantic  tone,  "  '  is  when  a  chap  gets 
spooney  on  another  man's  wife.'  Jack,"  he 
said,  with  a  mock  seriousness  in  his  voice,  "  I 
believe  you're  one  of  those  philosophers  who 
don't  always  practice  what  they  preach.  You'd 
better  take  care  lest  it  turn  out  to  be  a  case  of 
'  physician,  cure  thyself.'  " 

And  still  the  worldly-wise  words  of  the  cal- 
low youth,  had  no  particular  significance  in 
Dick's  own  eyes  just  then.  He  thought  that 
safety  lay  in  the  future,  by  reason  of  his  ex- 
perience in  the  past.  But  this  is  a  common 
mistake — holding  the  future  cheaply. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  ROUND-UP. 

The  round-up  was  in  full  swing.  To  Dick 
Travers,  a  round-up  was  nothing  new,  but  to 
Jack  Holmes,  it  was  very  much  so  indeed.  In 
fact,  in  some  parts  of  the  country,  more  espe- 
cially across  the  International  Boundary  line,  he 
would  have  had.  as  some  of  "  the  boys  "  ex- 
pressed it,  a  rather  "  tough  time  "  of  it,  on  ac- 
count of  his  verdancy.  But  those  who  com- 
posed this  particular  "  round-up  "  were  mostly 
a  few  of  the  neighboring  ranchers  themselves, 
whose  runs  lay  away  to  the  north,  and  a  few 
hired  hands.  The  latter  were  mostly  of  a  non- 
descript type,  and  had  a  very  pronounced  ten- 
dency to  fringed  chaperegos,  great  jangling 
Mexican  spurs,  fancy  revolvers,  and  practical 
jokes.  But  they  were,  generally  speaking,  of  a 
good-natured  and  accommodating  type,  and  had 
nothing  particularly  bad  in  their  compositions. 
But  to  have  ascribed  these  virtues  openly  to 
them,  would  have  been  to  have  mortally  in- 
sulted them.  In  point  of  fact,  when  any  subtle 
flatterer  meant  to  pay  them  a  compliment,  he 
insinuated  that  they  were  "  wild  and  woolly," 


XLbc  TRounDsup.  89 

and  if  there  was  a  point  to  be  gained  by  so  do- 
ing, it  was  as  good  as  won.  Perhaps,  there 
has  been  no  hero  of  modern  fiction  more  mis- 
represented than  the  genuine  cow-boy.  To 
the  average  reader  of  the  six-penny  novel, 
he  is  a  species  of  walking  arsenal  and  circus- 
rider  knocked  into  one  ;  who  rides  his  horse 
into  bar-rooms  and  over  bars ;  who  shoots  on 
the  slightest  provocation,  and  whose  aim  is  so 
miraculous  that  at  sixty  yards  he  can  shoot  the 
eye  right  out  of  a  mosquito,  if  he  happens  to 
see  one  winking  at  him.  Now  with  strict  re- 
gard to  the  truth,  he  is  a  law-abiding  citizen 
enough  ;  and  when  not  out  for  a  holiday,  is  a 
painstaking,  steady,  and  inoffensive  individual ; 
often  an  apt  student  of  Nature,  and  a  reader 
when  he  gets  the  chance.  It  is  your  sham, 
nondescript,  outside  article,  who  has  neither 
partiality  nor  aptitude  for  a  cow-boy's  work, 
but  who  under  cover  of  an  honest  callmg, 
makes  it  an  excuse  for  a  nomadic,  shiftless  life, 
a  little  card-sharping,  and  a  little  horse-steal- 
ing :  who  has  usurped  a  place  in  fiction  that 
his  betters  should  occupy. 

After  all,  a  cow-boy's  life  exercises  a  spell, 
which — whether  it  is  on  the  prairies  and  pam- 
pas of  the  west,  the  foot-hills  of  the  Rockies, 
or  on  the  great  cattle  runs  of  the  Australian 
bush — when  once  acquired,  can  never  be 
shaken  ofi.  There  is  a  poem  called  "  The 
Sick  Stockrider,"  by  Adam  Lindsay  Gordon, 
the  Australian  poet— an  Englishman  by  birth, 


90  Zbc  Devil's  BMa^grounD. 

however— that  has  haunted  at  least  one  life  in 
these  varied  climes.     Here  is  a  verse  or  two  of 

it  :— 

"  'Tvvas  merry  in  the  glowing   morn   among   the 
gleaming  grass, 
To  wander  as  we've  wandered  many  a  mile, 
And  blow  the  cool  tobacco  cloud,  and  watch  the 
white  wreaths  pass, 
Sitting  loosely  in  the  saddle  all  the  while. 

"'Twas  merry  in  the  backwoods,  when  we  'spied 
the  station  roofs, 
To  wheel  the  wild  scrub  cattle  at  the  yard, 
With  a  running  fire  of  stockwhips  and  a  fiery  run  of 
hoofs  ; 
Oh!  the  hardest  day  was  never    then   too 
hard  !  " 

This  passion  for  a  wandering  open-air  ex- 
istence, the  free  untrammelled  life  of  the  bush, 
the  prairie,  or  the  mountain-side,  is  at  once  the 
soul  and  the  bane  of  one's  existence.  There  is, 
of  course,  pleasure— such  as  it  is— in  the  ac- 
cumulation of  riches.  But  at  the  close  of  life, 
whether  is  it  better  to  say  with  the  man  whose 
soul  has  not  been  bartered  away  for  the  gold 
"  that  satisfieth  not,"  and  who  has  lived  a  clean 
life  :  "  I  have  seen  God's  own  world,  and  know 
how  beautiful  it  is.  I  have  lived  every  hour  of 
my  life,  and  can  thank  Him  with  a  full  heart  for 
it  "  ;  or  with  the  man  who  has  heaped  up  treas- 
ures in  vain  :  "HI  had  sought  knowledge  as  I 
have  sought  gold,  then  would  I  not  now  be 
groping  in  darkness  "  ? 


^be  IRounDsup.  91 

But  why  ask  ? 

The  round-up  party  consisted  of  about 
twenty  hands  all  told.  Every  day  the  cook's 
wagon  would  make  a  stage  of  from  eight  to  ten 
miles,  and  these  stages  marked  the  camps.  In 
the  morning  the  party  would  start  out  in  dif- 
ferent directions,  to  meet  later  on  at  one  given 
point,  driving  the  cattle  with  them  that  they  had 
picked  up  on  the  way,  and  which  had  strayed 
away  during  the  summer.  The  weather  was 
exhilarating,  and  the  spirits  of  the  men  good. 
Tredennis,  who  had  suddenly  become  pos- 
sessed of  an  idea  to  render  himself  generally 
useful,  enjoyed  the  fun  as  much  as  any  one  ; 
and  after  the  day's  work  was  done,  could  spin  a 
yarn  with  the  best  of  them  round  the  camp  fire. 
As  if  Nature  had  compensated  him  for  his  lack 
of  experience  and  frequent  blunders  during  the 
day,  "  the  Sage,"  Jack  Holmes,  resolved  him- 
self into  a  bright  and  shining  light  in  the  even- 
ing ;  and  as  he  could  sing  a  capital  song,  and 
had  an  inexhaustible  fund  of  anecdote,  he 
furthermore  retrieved  the  character  he  had  won 
for  being  generally  useless.  In  one  point  at 
least  he  had  shown  his  wisdom,  and  that  was  in 
the  capability  of  taking  a  joke  good-naturedly 
at  his  own  expense.  The  first  morning  they 
were  out,  when  the  cow-boys  and  breeds  were 
doing  a  little  "  showing  off,"  lassooing  one  an- 
other when  in  full  gallop,  throwing  their  hats 
on  the  ground  and  picking  them  up,  and  in- 
dulging in  various  other  pleasantries  peculiar  to 


92  ^be  Revive  iPIasarounD. 

cow-boys,  Billie  made  a  dead  set  at  Holmes. 
Billie  had  been  watching  the  Sage  cantering 
past  on  a  rather  spirited  broncho — he  was  at 
least  an  irreproachable  rider — when  suddenly, 
the  former  divining  that  his  chance  for  dis- 
tinguishing himself  had  now  come,  swung  his 
rope  round  his  head,  and  whiz  it  went  through 
the  air,  the  noose  settling  down  over  the  un- 
suspecting Sage's  shoulders,  and  tightening 
round  his  waist.  In  another  second  there  was 
a  riderless  horse,  and  the  rider  sat  down 
violently  on  the  bare  ground.  However,  he 
laughed  along  with  the  rest  of  them,  although 
he  felt  in  anything  but  a  laughing  humor,  and 
took  with  good  grace  Billie's  delicate  hint  that 
"  Tender-foots  had  to  larn." 

But  the  words  were  hardly  out  of  Billie's 
mouth  when  a  most  unlooked-for  accident  oc- 
curred. A  quick,  experienced  hand,  unobserved, 
placed  a  piece  of  cactus  somewhere  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  "  flash  "  broncho's  tail  that 
Billie  was  riding,  when — whiz — bang — bump — 
bump — bump  !  and  Billie's  broncho  seemed  to 
have  gone  mad,  and  bucked  like  one  possessed. 
Its  head  was  between  its  legs.  Its  back  was 
arched  like  a  rainbow,  and  every  buck  was 
higher  than  another.  Perhaps  Billie  was  taken 
by  surprise,  or  perhaps  the  broncho  was  sur- 
prised— however,  it  is  more  than  likely  that 
both  were  ;  and  as  the  broncho  could  not  get 
rid  of  the  cactus,  it  got  rid  of  Billie,  who, 
although  a  splendid  rider,  dismounted  in  rather 


Zbe  lRounD*up.  93 

an  undignified  fashion.  Perhaps  of  the  two 
falls,  Billie's  was  the  least  dignified.  When  the 
latter  gentleman  discovered  that  no  bones  were 
broken,  he  slowly  raised  himself  from  the 
ground,  and  glaring  round  in  an  ugly  fashion 
(he  somehow  could  not  enter  into  the  spirit  of 
the  joke)  finally  fixed  his  gaze  upon  Dick 
Travers,  and  inquired  in  a  threatening  manner — 

"  Who  the  (plutonic)  done  that  ?  " 

Dick  spoke  as  he  came  towards  him  with  a 
friendly  show  of  assisting  him  to  get  up,  and 
with  a  smile  that  was  of  a  most  comprehensive 
character. 

"I  did:  my  hearty;  and  didn't  I  do  it  well? 
You  see,  as  a  'tender-foot '  I'm  doing  my  best 
to  follow  your  advice  and  *  larn.'  " 

What  Billie  muttered  was  drowned  in  the 
roars  of  laughter  that  went  up  from  the  crowd. 
However,  he  treated  with  undignified  silence 
the  hope  Dick  expressed,  to  the  effect  that  he 
was  not  hurt  ;  and  his  mount  having  been 
caught  by  the  Sage  in  the  meantime,  he  mounted 
it  sullenly,  and  in  a  few  minutes  more  the  crowd 
dispersed. 

Away  they  went  along  the  brown  hill-sides, 
where  the  prairie  chickens  strutted  about  in  the 
warm  sunshine;  over  the  high,  breezy  benches, 
where  they  drank  in  the  pure,  bracing  ozone, 
and  all  the  surrounding  country  lay  like  a  great 
colored  map  ahead  and  around  them.  There, 
showing  dimly  away  to  the  south  was  the  purp- 
ling   outline   of  the   Bear-Paw   Mountains    in 


94  C^be  Bevil's  iplaggvounD. 

Montana;  away  to  the  southwest,  were  the 
three  conical  peaks  of  the  Sweet  Grass  Hills ; 
and,  like  pieces  of  broken  mirror  on  a  shadow- 
fiecked  field  of  grey  and  green,  were  Wild 
Horse  Lake  and  Pagh-ogh-kee.  Then,  down 
again  into  the  great  grassy  coullees  and  the 
stony,  dried-up  creeks.  Now,  under  great, 
brown,  threatening  cut-banks,  that  spoke  of  a 
time  when  these  rugged  channels  ran  high  and 
swiftly  with  a  raging,  tawny-crested  flood.  And 
now  again,  they  rode  alongside  a  beaver- 
haunted,  still,  deep  pool,  fringed  and  half-hidden 
by  a  greenery  of  wolf-willow  and  silver-birch. 
And  then,  perhaps,  when  they  wondered  where 
the  cattle  could  possibly  have  got  to — the  signs 
of  whose  presence  were  all  around — under  a 
group  of  shady,  rugged  maples  or  cotton-wood 
trees  they  would  sight  a  group  of  wondering 
cattle,  which  would  stand  and  gaze  at  them  an 
instant  with  a  mild  but  startled  air,  and  then 
with  tails  raised  high  in  the  air,  and  a  snort  of 
fear,  would  stampede  away  through  beds  of 
crackling  reeds,  and  stunted  undergrowth. 
Then  for  an  exciting  gallop  to  head  them  off, 
and  steady  them  down,  over  butte  and  couUee, 
over  flint-strewn  water-courses  that  rang  again 
with  the  clattering  din  of  hoofs,  and  over  banks 
of  waving  sage-brush,  with  one  eye  to  the 
unsteady  band  of  cattle,  and  another  to  the 
treacherous  badger-hole.  But  the  broncho  of 
the  prairie  is  not  like  its  brothor  born  in  the 
stable  ;  for  should  by  chance  it  stumble  over  a 
series  of  those   treacherous  man-traps,  it   will 


Zbc  1RounD=up.  95 

recover  itself  in  an  instant,  and  seldom  comes 
to  grief,  whereas,  the  other  is  almost  certain  to 
break  its  neck.  Then  the  excitement  of  the 
"  cutting  out,"  and  the  roping  ;  the  handling  of 
the  red-hot  and  hissing  branding  irons,  and  the 
exhibitions  of  much  skill. 

One  loses  sight  of  the  dust,  the  heat,  and  the 
general  discomfort  of  such  occasions,  and  only 
remembers  the  zest  one  had  in  life  in  those 
days,  and  the  merry  jests.  Then  when  the 
day's  work  is  done,  and  all  are  lying  smoking 
round  the  camp-fire,  the  "  tall "  yarns  and 
jokes,  that  sound  quainter  and  fresher  than  the 
wildest  stretches  of  fiction ;  and  then  the 
sweeter  rest,  for  sweet  is  the  sleep  of  the 
wearied.  Than  the  dark  blue  heavens  above, 
lit  up  by  millions  of  gleaming  stars,  what 
grander  canopy  could  a  king  have  ? 

There  is  a  couple  of  verses  from  a  poem, 
which  is  not  by  Tennyson,  and  runs  thus  : — 

"  O   happy,   happy   days  when  we  tied  our  shoes 
with  string, 
And  braced  our  figures  slender, 
With  one  green-hide  suspender; 
And  laughed  like  anything, 

O  happy,  happy  days  when  we  tied  our  shoes  with 
string  ! 

"  We  rose  up  in  the  morning  with  lyrics  on  our 
lips. 

We  hadn't  any  money ; 

But  what  we  said  was  funny, 
And  full  of  quaintest  quips. 
We  rose  up  in  the  morning  with  lyrics  on  our  lips." 


96  ^be  2>cvU'0  iPlasGrounD. 

After  all,  it  is  in  the  commonplace  that 
pathos  lies.  Prosperity  may  furnish  vales  of 
Arcady  in  which  nightingales  sing,  and  where 
swains  and  love-sick  maidens  trip  it  to  the 
time-honored  piping  of  oaten  reeds,  and  the 
quaint  conceits  of  the  pastoral ;  but  the  truer 
poetry  of  existence  derives  its  pathos  from 
retrospection,  and  ruined  lives. 

"  You've  caught  the  prairie-fever,"  said  Dick 
Travers  to  Jack  Holmes,  when  they  had  been 
out  for  a  few  days. 

"  So  mote  it  be,"  commented  the  Sage. 
"  Sorry  I  didn't  catch  it  sooner." 

"  I  sometimes  wish,"  Dick  went  on  musingly, 
"  that  I  had  been  a  Red  Indian  and  lived  in  the 
old  days  when  the  prairies  were  covered  with 
buffalo,  and  one  had  nothing  to  do  but  knock 
round,  and  fight,  or  hunt.  I  believe  I  could 
have  found  existence  very  bearable.  One  thing 
is  certain,  1  would  not  have  found  quite  so 
much  to  sicken  me  in  life  as  I  have  done." 

"  Pshaw,  man  !  "  interrupted  Tredennis,  who 
was  riding  alongside  them,  and  had  overheard 
Dick's  unwonted  speech,  "  to  hear  you  talk  one 
would  imagine  that  you  had  been  badly  crossed 
in  love,  or  something  of  that  sort.  I  once 
read  of  a  chap  in  a  poem  called  '  Locksley 
Hall,'  who  twaddled  on  just  like  you,  till  he 
came  to  his  senses.  At  the  same  time  I 
wouldn't  mind  going  back  ten  years  of  my  life 
— I  think  if  I  had  my  choice  as  to  my  future  life, 
were  the  going-back  part  of   it  accomplished, 


Cbe  1RounD*up,  97 

I'd  take  my  Winchester  and  a  supply  of  car- 
tridges, and  lead  a  wandering  life  on  these 
prairies,  in  preference  to  the  course  I  have 
taken.  By  Jove,  look  at  that  band  of  antelope 
disappearing  over  the  ridge  yonder  !" 

Dick  looked  up  suddenly,  and  regarded  him 
for  a  moment  with  a  startled  expression  on  his 
face — he  did  not  even  look  at  the  band  of 
antelope  disappearing  over  the  ridge.  This, 
then,  was  the  state  of  mind  of  the  man  who 
had  supplanted  him  in  that,  the  loss  of  which 
had  made  it  seem  to  him,  as  if  life  were  hardly 
worth  living  :  who  had  been  the  cause  of  all 
the  trouble.  If  she  could  only  know  the  senti- 
ments of  this  man — and  he  had  more  than  a 
suspicion  that  she  did  know  it — would  she  not 
realize  that  this  was  a  sort  of  Nemesis  upon 
her  for  the  treacherous  part  she  had  played? 
After  all,  there  were  great  retributive  laws  at 
work  in  all  human  affairs. 

Tredennis  watched  the  antelope  disappear 
with  wistful  eyes,  and  continued  the  conversa- 
tion. 

"I'll  tell  you  what  we'll  do,  Travers  ;  after 
the  round-up  is  over,  and  before  the  winter  sets 
in,  we'll  organize  a  hunting-party.  My  cousin 
Ned  is  coming  out — he's  a  capital  shot— and  a 
couple  of  girls  are  coming  to  pay  us  a  visit ;  I 
believe  they're  at  the  ranche  by  this  time,  and 
I  was  wondering  how  we  should  amuse  them. 
Now  I've  just  hit  upon  it.  We  will  take  a 
couple  of  wagons,  tents,  and  other    necessary 


98  Zbe  Devil's  IplasgrounD. 

paraphernalia,  and  go  right  into  the  wilderness 
and  sojourn  for  a  while  in  that  land  where  no 
man  lives,  and  have  a  high  old  time.  We  can 
shoot  and  hunt  to  our  heart's  content,  perhaps 
run  across  a  bear  in  Many  Berries  Creek.  I 
know  vi^here  there  is  a  piece  of  queer  scenery 
down  there :  those  red  and  white  terraces  and 
pillars  of  clay,  that  would  interest  Mrs.  Tre- 
dennis — they  are  weird  and  dismal-looking 
enough  to  suit  her  out-of-the-way  choice  of 
subjects.  It  will  be  late  enough  in  the  season, 
and  cold  enough  at  nights,  but  it  will  be  a 
glorious  trip." 

"  Holmes  is  the  very  man  you  want  for  a 
thing  of  the  kind,"  said  Dick,  hurriedly  ;  "  but 
if  you  go,  I  would  rather  you  left  me  at  the 
ranche  with  MacMillan ;  he  can  ill  afford  to 
lose  one  of  his  hands  before  the  winter  sets  in, 
far  less  two. '' 

"  Nonsense,  man  !  I've  got  to  have  a  couple 
of  men  with  me,  anyhow  ;  and  I'll  bring  Briggs 
along,  who  is  an  excellent  cook.  We  can  do 
all  the  other  work — what  little  there  is  of  it — 
equally  amongst  us.  I  don't  care  about  taking 
Billie  with  us  :  he's  apt  to  forget  himself  before 
ladies,  and  his  conversation  is  not  edifying.  In 
a  party  such  as  I  propose,  of  course,  it  will  be 
a  pic-nicking  pure  and  simple.  Besides,  there 
will  be  two  good-looking  girls  to  look  after ; 
and  you  may  understand  the  nature  of  the  duty 
that  will  be  expected  of  you,"  and  Tom  smiled 
knowingly. 


XLbc  1Roim&*up.  99 

Dick  did  not  somehow  like  the  idea ;  but  he 
made  no  further  demur.  He  felt  grateful  to  the 
man  who  so  delicately  led  him  to  understand, 
that  it  was  not  as  a  hired  servant  simply  that  he 
looked  upon  him,  but  as  a  guest  and  an  equal. 

Holmes  could  hardly  restrain  his  delight  at 
the  prospect  of  such  a  trip,  and  declared  that 
to  drive  a  wagon,  and  to  render  himself  gener- 
ally useful  on  such  an  expedition,  would  be  a 
positive  pleasure. 

On  the  fifth  day  out,  a  remarkable  phenome- 
non began  to  assert  itself.  About  noon,  a  thin 
bluish  mist  came  slowly  drifting  along  from  the 
west ;  at  first  so  shadowy  and  immaterial  it 
was  hardly  noticed  ;  but  before  night  distant 
objects  could  only  be  seen  dimly  through  it ; 
and  the  three  peaks  of  the  Sweet  Grass  Hills, 
were  hidden  from  view. 

"  A  prairie  fire,  by  all  that  is  unlucky  !  "  said 
MacMillan. 

Ere  bed-time  a  strange  thing  was  visible  ; 
which,  of  course,  to  those  who  had  been  for  any 
length  of  time  in  the  country,  was  nothing 
strange.  Long  after  sunset  there  was  a  blood- 
red  glow  in  the  sky  which  seemed  to  flicker 
portentously:  now,  suddenly  spreading  and 
growing  vividly  lurid;  then  gradually  dying 
away  again,  until  some  wandering  gust  of  wind 
fanned  it  into  a  greater  glare  than  ever. 

The  ranchers  watched  the  reflection  in  the 
sky  with  growing  anxiety. 

"  It's  thirty  miles  off,  if  it's  a  foot,"  said  Mac- 


100         Zbc  ©evil's  iplai^grouno. 

Millan,  "  and  it  has  to  cross  the  Milk  River 
Ridge,  not  to  mention  a  dozen  of  other  obsta- 
cles ;  so  if  the  wind  keeps  down  it's  all  right ; 
but  if  the  wind  comes  on  to  blow  from  the 
west,  we'll  have  to  get  a  rustle  on.  The  g^ass 
is  as  dry  as  flax,  and  will  go  just  as  quickly." 

Next  day  the  smoke  was  denser  than  on  the 
day  preceding,  and  the  party  became  anxious. 
In  the  morning,  MacMillan  went  out  in  the 
direction  of  the  fire  ;  and  by  mid-day  he  was 
back  again  with  a  jaded  horse.  He  called  Tre- 
dennis  aside. 

"  It's  nearer  than  I  thought,  sir,"  he  said  ; 
"  we'll  have  to  quit  the  round-up  and  fight  the 
fire.  The  best  thing  we  can  do  is  to  stop  it — 
that's  to  say  if  we  can — between  the  Milk  River 
Ridge  and  Bad  Water  Lake,  and  north  again 
from  that.  It's  not  for  me  to  remind  you,"  he 
continued,  rather  ruefully,  "  that  your  hay  near 
the  ranche  is  insufficiently  protected,  and  that  if 
the  fire  once  crossed  Big  Plume  Creek,  I 
wouldn't  answer  for  the  buildings  and  the 
timber.  That  strip  should  have  been  burned 
along  the  creek,  even  if  it  spoiled  the  look  of 
the  place  for  a  while.  I'm  afraid  there's  a  risk 
of  a  much  bigger  strip  being  burned.  I  should 
advise  you  to  send  some  one  right  away  to  do 
it,  and  look  after  the  place,  in  case  the  fire  gets 
away  from  us.  Your  man,  Briggs,  can  give 
whoever  you  send  a  hand." 

"  By  Jove,  MacMillan,  I  believe  you're  right. 
It  was  Mrs.  Tredennis  who  stopped  the  burn- 


Zbc  1Roun^*up.  loi 

ing  of  that  fire-break.     This  comes  of  letting 
women  interfere,"  he  muttered,  irritably. 

A  council  of  war  was  held,  and  it  was  de- 
cided hastily  that  they  should  ride  westward ; 
fight  the  fire  between  given  points,  and  en- 
deavor to  save  the  country.  Tredennis  ap- 
proached Dick. 

"  Travers,"  he  said,  "  I  want  you  to  go  right, 
back  to  the  ranche  :  it's  a  good  thirty-mile  ride, 
and  it's  late  in  the  afternoon  ;  but  I  know  if  any 
one  can  get  there  in  time  it  is  you.  You  know 
what  has  to  be  done  :  turn  out  Briggs  and  burn 
a  fire-break  along  the  creek.  MacMillan  says 
if  the  fire  gets  across  the  creek,  it  will  jump  the 
breaks  round  the  stacks  in  the  Medicine  Lodge 
Coullee  for  a  certainty.  Don't  spare  your 
horse.  By  Gad,  the  wind's  getting  up,  as  I'm  a 
living  sinner !  " 

Tredennis  did  not  stop  to  hear  what  Travers 
had  to  say,  but  galloped  away  after  the  crowd 
of  horsemen  that  cantered  off  towards  the  west 
to  out-manoeuvre  the  angry  element.  Travers 
roused  himself,  strapped  his  old  coat  in  front  of 
him  on  the  saddle,  and,  turning  his  horse's  head 
northward,  gave  it  its  head. 

"  It  is  fate,  or  my  usual  luck,"  he  muttered 
moodily.  "  Of  all  men  he  must  send  me  to 
that  woman,  whom  I  ought  to  hate,  for  the  evil 
she  has  wrought  me  ;  but  for  whom  yet  there  is 
some  of  the  old  pain  that  is  not  quite  dead.  I 
am  miserable  when  I  am  near  her  ;  and  yet  I 
have  not  the  moral  courage  to  get  out  of  this. 


102         G^be  Devil's  pla^grounD. 

I  am  a  coward  if  ever  there  was  one  ;  otherwise 
I  would  not  be  here.  I  told  her  she  was  noth- 
ing to  me,  but  I  lied.  I  wonder  if  hell  holds 
many  such  hearts  as  mine  ?  " 

Already,  he    was    living  in  that    uncertain 
future. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

AGAINST  TIME  AND   FIRE. 

Dick  looked  around  :  in  the  thin  smoke  he 
smelt  fire,  and  noticed  that  little  cindrous  par- 
ticles were  falling  round  him,  like  the  first  few 
flakes  of  snow  that  herald  a  blizzard.  Only 
these  tiny  specks  w^re  grey,  or  of  an  ominous 
blackness. 

Ss-sh  !  and  a  light  breeze  began  to  hurry  the 
little  black  specks  along  faster  and  faster,  and 
to  fan  his  cheek.  For  the  time  being,  it 
brought  him  to  a  more  reasonable  frame  of 
mind. 

"  It's  going  to  blow  a  hurricane,"  he  said,  as 
if  to  himself.  "It's  fetching  the  fire  with  it, 
and  the  smoke  is  growing  denser  to  the  north, 
MacMillan  said  the  fire  had  to  cross  the  Milk 
River  Ridge ;  but  he  did  not  reckon  upon  an- 
other one  traveling  up  from  the  west;  and 
that's  what  it  is.  I  suppose  it's  a  race  between 
me  and  the  fire.  Now  then,  Barney,  show  me 
what  mettle  a  broncho  is  made  of." 

The  grass  that  year  had  been  luxuriant  and 
rank  all  spring  and  summer,  and  the  fall  had 
been  scorching  and  dry  ;  and  now  the  whole 


104         G^be  2)evirs  plaiggrounD. 

country  was  as  dry  as  a  piece  of  timber,  and  as 
inflammable  as  gunpowder. 

For  two  hundred  miles  and  more  there  was 
nothing  but  a  vast  unbroken  ocean  of  prairie, 
and  little  to  check  the  force  of  the  great  de- 
stroying element ;  which,  gathering  strength 
and  velocity  as  it  came,  created  a  whirlwind  in 
its  wake.  The  first  signs  of  its  approach  were 
vast,  pillar-like  clouds  of  smoke,  that  rolled  up 
from  the  horizon,  and  darkened  the  face  of  the 
sun  as  with  a  pall.  The  wild  animals  fled  in 
terror  before  it ;  and  birds  of  prey  hovered  on 
its  extreme  edge  reaping  a  bloody  harvest. 

And  now  with  an  ominous  sighing  the  wind 
freshened,  and  far  off — it  might  be  twenty  miles 
and  more — it  gradually  assumed  the  sound  as 
of  the  distant  ocean  beating  upon  a  rocky 
coast. 

Some  people  talk  of  the  silence  that  usually 
accompanies  elemental  disturbances  on  the 
prairie  ;  but  the  law  of  association  has  a  good 
deal  to  do  with  this  supposition.  Listen  in- 
tently, and  you  will  become  conscious  of  a 
muffled  roaring  in  your  ears.  If  there  are  no 
obstacles  to  create  distinctive  noises,  the 
elements  cannot  be  silent  any  more  than  the 
combustion  of  gases  in  the  atmosphere  can  fail 
to  produce  thunder. 

Away  to  the  north  a  gushet-like  wedge  of 
flame  traveled  with  appalling  rapidity,  right  in 
the  direction  in  which  Dick  was  traveling.  He 
knew  that  so  far  as  his  own  personal  safety  was 


Bga(n0t  ^(me  anD  ffire.  105 

concerned  there  was  no  particular  danger ;  for 
he  could,  if  he  saw  fit,  set  fire  to  the  grass  on 
the  lee  side  of  him  ;  then  stand  safely  on  the 
burnt  patch,  until  the  great  front  of  sweeping 
flame  had  passed  on  either  side.  Or  else  he 
could  choose  a  spot  where  the  grass  was 
shorter  than  usual,  and  gallop  his  horse  right 
through  the  flames ;  he  had  done  this  before  on 
the  pampas  of  the  South.  But  he  was  haunted 
Iby  the  thought  that  he  would  not  be  in  time  to 
save  the  ranche  ;  that  the  fiames  would  be  there 
before  him,  and  have  done  their  work  of  de- 
struction. 

And  now  he  pressed  his  fresh  horse,  Barney, 
which  he  had  taken,  and  away  it  flew  over 
butte  and  coullee.  How  its  feet  clattered  over 
the  flint-strewn  ranges  and  stony  water-courses  ; 
how  it  gathered  itself  together  and  leapt  the 
yawning  wash-outs  alongside  the  creek  ;  how  it 
went  for  the  steep  hill-sides,  and  tore  down 
them  again  like  a  thing  possessed  !  A  stumble 
over  some  treacherous  badger-hole  and  it  were 
a  wicked  fall — a  man's  neck  were  not  worth  the 
purchase  then.  Neck  against  leather,  truly. 
But  if  a  man  does  get  his  neck  broken  he  never 
knows  it :  and  after  all  a  man  can  only  die  once. 
And  what  is  death  ?  A  stumble — a  shock — the 
cervical  vertebrje  is  severed  in  the  twinkling  of 
an  eye  :  the  body  is  clay,  and  the  mind  is  noth- 
ingness. And  then  the  fire  comes  up  and  burns 
him  to  a  cinder,  and  there  is  no  more  about 
him.     He  has  only  anticipated  Nature, 


io6         Zbc  Devil's  plaggrounD. 

"  Stay  with  it,  Barney,  my  boy  !  " 

My  God,  liow  dark  it  grows  ! — and  the  smoke. 
Phew  !  it  is  a  choking,  blinding,  hellish  smoke ! 
There  is  a  roar  in  one's  ears  ;  a  fitting  descrip- 
tion of  which  can  only  be  found  in  the  Scrip- 
tures :  "  A  noise  like  the  roaring  of  a  mighty 
wind." 

And  now,  there  is  a  blood-red,  blinding, 
scorching  glow  right  ahead  of  him  :  he  is  in  a 
couUee  of  long,  dry  grass  and  reeds — a  veritable 
funeral  pyre  :  and  the  fire  has  traveled  down  it 
at  the  speed  of  a  racehorse.  Strain  every 
nerve  and  muscle  as  you  will,  Barney,  you  are 
no  match  for  it !  He  could  not  stop  his  horse 
now  if  he  tried,  far  less  turn  it ;  a  stumble,  and 
it  would  be  all  up  with  him.  There  is  a  roar  in 
his  ears  as  of  hell  broken  loose.  It  puts  Dick 
in  mind  of  a  time  when  he  was  nearly  drowned, 
and  the  waters  thundered  in  his  ears.  His 
horse  plunges  madly  and  becomes  demoralized. 
But  only  for  a  second — a  cool,  steady  hand  is 
pressed  against  the  foam-flecked  neck,  and  a 
couple  of  as  firm,  urging  heels  are  pressed  well 
into  his  flanks.  Like  a  bolt  from  a  cross-bow, 
Barney  springs  forward. 

"  Ss-ssh  !  "  A  great  tongue  of  flame  shoots 
up  right  alongside  and  wraps  him  in  its  fiery 
folds.  His  eyebrows  frizzle  and  singe.  He  is 
being  burnt  alive,  and  is  stifling ;  "  Oh,  Barney, 
Barney  !  " 

What  I  will  he  perish  like  a  wild  animal  that 
has  been   caught  in   a  trap  ?     "  Stay   with  it, 


against  TLimc  anD  iftre.  107 

Barney!  Go  it,  Barney!  Through  it,  my 
boy  ! " 

A  clattering  of  hoofs  like  "  the  devil  beating 
with  iron  sticks  on  a  kettledrum  of  granite  !  " 
A  sobbing  gasp  for  breath — a  horrible  gulp  of 
smoke — a  fiery  embrace  of  scorching  flame — 
another  leap — a  blind,  headlong  charge  at  the  op- 
posite hillside,  and  the  burning  valley  is  cleared 
— a  veritable  Valley  of  the  Shadow  of  Death. 

A  gust  of  cool,  fresh  air.  "  Hurrah  !  Bar- 
ney, my  boy.  There's  nothing  like  a  touch  of 
the  devil  in  man  or  beast  after  all ;  and  a  wise 
Providence  helps  those  who  help  themselves  !  " 

And  now  the  blackness  of  night  unfolds  a 
wonderful  sight ;  and  for  a  minute  or  two, 
Travers  checks  his  horse  when  the  brow  of  the 
valley  is  gained,  and  looks  upon  the  terrible 
magnificence,  and  awe-inspiring  grandeur  of 
the  scene. 

It  is  as  if  a  Babylon,  undreamt  of  in  immensity, 
were  mapped  out  beneath  him  in  lines  of  living 
fire.  For  at  different  levels  on  the  heights  and 
in  the  hollows  of  the  burning  prairie,  terrace 
upon  terrace  of  glowing  flames  and  twinkling 
lights  of  every  conceivable  shape  and  color, 
travel  and  dance  grotesquely.  It  is  Babylon  in 
flames.  When  that  bloody  monstrosity,  Nero, 
caused  a  great  city  to  be  burned,  in  order  that 
he  might  enjoy  the  spectacle  of  a  miniature  hell, 
behind  his  ghoulish  proclivities  there  must  have 
lurked  a  hankering  after  the  picturesque  some- 
where. 


io8         Zhe  Devil's  iplasgrounD. 

Now,  it  is  an  ocean  with  billows  of  glowing 
fire,  that  roll  onwards  and  onwards,  recede, 
cross,  and  recross,  flicker,  and  die  away  again ; 
but  which  with  a  horrible  perversity  break  out 
and  flare  up  again,  and  are  always  coming 
nearer  and  nearer.  Oh,  these  fiery  crested 
billows !  Oh,  these  relentless  flames !  It  is 
like  a  burning  world.  It  is  like  the  realization 
of  that  day  which  the  ancients  depict :  when 
"  the  world  will  be  wrapped  in  flames,  and  the 
elements  melt  with  fervent  heat." 

And  now  Dick  goes  cautiously  down  the 
.steep,  stony  hill-side ;  ten  miles  more,  and  he 
will  be  at  the  ranche.  He  notices  now  that  the 
Piegan  Creek  has  headed  the  fire  off  away  to 
the  north-west,  and  he  yet  may  be  in  time  to 
burn  a  fire-break  in  the  neighborhood  of  Big 
Plume  Coullee. 

"  Now   then,    Barney,   my   boy,    for  another 
canter.     You  will  earn  a  good  rest  on  the  mor- ' 
row,  if  you  get  there  in  time." 

How  cool  and  fresh  the  air  is,  and  a  dew  is 
surely  falling  that  will  somewhat  deaden  the 
flames.  Is  not  that  long  line  of  twinkling  lights 
that  wave-like  lick  lazily  along,  and  which  show 
interminably  through  the  night,  somewhat  like 
the  lights  of  the  Thames  Embankment  as  seen 
from  the  Surrey  side  of  old  Father  Thames  ? 

And  it  required  no  great  stretch  of  imagina- 
tion for  Dick,  to  clothe  his  surroundings  with 
scenes  like  these. 

"  Five    miles    more,     Barney — three — two — 


against  Zimc  anD  jFlre.  109 

easy,  my  lad  ;  you  have  well  been  called  'man's 
noblest  friend ' ;  and  well  you  knew — and  let 
sycophants  sneer — that  in  your  broncho  pluck 
rested  only  a  matter  of  life  or  death  this  never- 
to-be-forgotten  night.  One  mile  at  the  most — 
steady,  my  pet — how  your  poor  sides  quiver 
and  shake  ! — steady,  Barney  ! — steady  !  " 
There  at  last !     Thank  God ! 


CHAPTER  IX. 

"CURSE  HER   FOR  HER  HEARTLESSNESS !  " 

When  Dick  arrived  at  the  ranche,  he  could 
see  no  one  about  but  the  manager's  wife.  She 
ran  out  to  meet  him,  to  ask  with  a  practical 
turn  of  mind  as  to  whether  the  round-up  had 
succeeded  in  driving  off  the  herd  to  a  place  of 
safety,  and  if  he  thought  there  was  time  to  save 
the  pasture  immediately  round  the  ranche. 

"  The  cattle  are  all  right,  Mrs.  MacMillan  ;  " 
said  Dick,  "  but  would  you  be  kind  enough  to 
send  Briggs  to  me,  and  get  me  two  old  broom- 
sticks and  a  couple  of  sacks.  I  think  we'll  be 
able  to  head  it  off  down  by  the  creek.  Where 
is  Mrs.  Tredennis  ?  " 

"  Oh,  she  and  the  young  ladies  and  the 
master's  cousin  have  gone  up  to  the  knoll  to 
have  a  look  round  them.  I  don't  believe  they 
care  a  fig,"  continued  Mrs.  MacMillan,  with 
some  asperity,  "  as  to  whether  the  place  is 
burned  down  or  not.     But  here's  Briggs." 

Briggs  was  an  Englishman,  and  was  ready 
and  eager  to  be  instructed  in  the  somewhat 
arduous  work  of  fighting  prairie-fire.  After  put- 
ting his  horse  in  the  stable,  Travers,  and  he,  fix- 


"Curse  bet  tor  ber  Ibeartlceeness ! "  m 

ing  the  sacks  at  the  end  of  the  brooms,  and 
wetting  them  in  the  creek,  set  off  for  the  fire. 

By  this  time  the  wind  had  gone  down  ;  the 
dew  was  falling,  and  the  flames  were  crawling 
sluggishly  and  sleepily  along.  They  went  off 
for  a  couple  of  miles  or  so  to  the  north,  and 
beginning  at  the  creek,  beat  out  the  fire  at  the 
rate  of  a  slow  walk.  Dick  was  somewhat  tired, 
but  Briggs  was  as  fresh  as  a  young  giant,  and 
laid  about  him  as  if  he  were  annihilating  a  mob 
of  his  enemies,  instead  of  simply  beating  out 
what  was  only  a  feeble  flame. 

One  hour — two  hours,  and  Dick  was  growing 
weary.  They  had  wetted  their  sacks  half  a 
dozen  times  or  so  at  the  creek,  and  were  nearly 
abreast  of  the  ranche  ;  if  they  worked  steadily 
for  an  hour  or  so  they  would  be  able  to  save  all 
the  country  to  the  east  of  it.  Even  as  yet  the 
danger  was  not  altogether  past.  As  they  toiled, 
the  sweat  running  from  every  pore  in  their 
bodies,  Dick  heard  voices  coming  from  out  the 
gloom  to  the  east  of  him,  and  looking  in  that 
direction,  he  saw  the  figures  of  a  man  and 
woman  coming  towards  him.  The  man  had  a 
long  stick  over  one  shoulder,  and  was  carrying 
a  pitcher ;  the  woman  carried  a  basket  ;  Dick 
became  strangely  disturbed. 

"  For  mercy's  sake,  keep  away,  Mrs.  Tre- 
dennis  !  "  he  cried,  "  your  dress  may  catch  fire 
any  minute.  You  don't  know  what  a  danger 
you're  running  by  coming  here.  Anyhow,"  he 
added  bitterly,  "  you  can't  do  any  good  now. 


112         Zbc  ©evira  iPlai^grounD. 

We  have  done  the  most  that  can  be  done  ;  as 
long  as  the  wind  keeps  down  the  ranche  is  all 
right." 

It  was  indeed  the  rancher's  wife,  who,  of  all 
others  in  the  world,  perhaps,  he  least  wanted  to 
see  just  then,  or  at  any  other  time. 

"  My  dress  canhot  catch  fire,  Mr.  Travers," 
she  said,  quietly  ;  "  I  was  out  when  you  came 
back,  and  knowing  you  had  nothing  to  eat  since 
you  left  the  round-up,  and  that  you  would  not 
take  time  to  attend  to  yourself  at  the  ranche,  I 
brought  you  something  out  here.  This  is  Tom's 
cousin,  Mr.  Terry."  She  introduced  the  gentle- 
man who  stood  beside  her,  and  continued  : 
"  Now,  Ned,  you've  got  to  take  Mr.  Travers' 
place,  and  he  will  take  some  of  this  cold  coffee 
and  a  sandwich.  You  can't  work,  you  know, 
unless  you  make  yourself  fit  for  it  " — she  had 
noticed  the  look  of  dissent  upon  his  face  by  the 
flickering  light  of  the  fire.  Cousin  Ned,  in  the 
meantime,  was  smiling  pleasantly  at  Dick,  and 
insisted  on  shaking  hands  with  him,  despite  of 
the  latter  exhibiting  a  hand,  by  way  of  warning, 
that  resembled  a  gentleman's  of  color.  But  Mr. 
Terry  explained  that  as  his  own  would  be  in  a 
like  condition  in  a  few  minutes  it  did  not  matter. 
He  said — 

"  You'd  better  have  a  snack,  Mr.  Travers. 
I'll  take  your  place  ;  'pon  my  word,  you  know, 
I've  just  been  dying  for  some  violent  exercise." 
And  putting  down  the  pitcher  on  the  unburnt 
grass,  and  rolling  up  his  dainty  shirt  sleeves — 


**  Curse  ber  tor  bcr  "Ocartlessness ! "  113 

for  he  was  minus  a  coat — he  took  his  fire-beat- 
ing apparatus  and  started  in  as  Briggs  had  done, 
to  fight  fire,  as  if  he  were  St.  George,  and  the 
fire  were  a  dragon  ;  and  in  a  way  which  bid 
fair  to  play  him  out  in  a  very  short  space  of 
time,  if  he  kept  it  up. 

The  light  from  the  advancing  chain  of  fire 
had  somewhat  quickened  again,  and  by  its  light 
they  could  see  each  other's  faces  distinctly.  She 
stood  quietly  regarding  Dick  for  a  minute  with 
a  strange,  questioning  look  in  her  eyes  ;  and 
then,  as  if  the  practical  necessities  of  the  case 
had  overcome  any  other  considerations,  she  said 
quietly,  with  just  a  shade  of  diffidence  in  her 
voice — 

"  Won't  you  have  something  to  eat  or  drink  ? 
You  must  be  nearly  worn  out  by  this  time." 

He  felt  as  if  he  could  have  ignored  her  alto- 
gether, but  his  instincts  as  a  gentleman  forbade 
him  to.  He  was  nothing  to  her  now  ;  and  why 
should  she,  who  had  so  signally  shown  it, 
cruelly  remind  him  of  the  past,  and  the  difference 
between  them  in  the  present,  by  her  presence 
there  ?  Why  should  she  now  trouble  about 
such  a  small  thing  as  his  temporal  comfort  ? 
He  said  to  himself  it  was  characteristic  of  her 
after  all — she  liked  to  play  the  Lady  Bountiful. 
It  was  easy  for  any  one  to  be  unselfish  and  self- 
denying  in  small  things,  but  when  it  came  to  a 
large  and  life-long  interest  being  at  stake,  it  was 
quite  a  different  matter.  And  she  had  not 
scrupled  to  sacrifice  her  own  and  other  people's 


114  C;bc  2)€v>irs  pla^grounD. 

feelings  to  gain  a  sordid  end.  Perhaps  her  con- 
science troubled  her  not  a  little  regarding  him, 
and  being,  to  a  certain  extent,  a  creature  of 
kindly  impulses,  and  one  of  those  who  cannot 
bear  to  think  that  any  one  should  think  harshly 
of  them,  she  took  this  non-committal  way  of 
showing  her  contrition  and  making  amends. 
In  spite  of  that  old  longing  for  her,  which  he 
could  not  wholly  eliminate  from  his  being,  he 
experienced  something  akin  to  contempt  for 
her. 

"  I  would  rather  you  had  not  thought  about 
me  at  all,"  he  said,  "  though  I  am  sure  Briggs 
will  be  glad  to  see  these  things.  Can't  you 
understand  how  I  feel  about  it  ?  " 

For  a  minute  there  was  a  pained  and  startled 
look  on  her  face,  and  he  noted  the  quivering  of 
her  lip.  It  was  very  evident  to  him  that  she 
was  genuinely  disappointed,  and  felt  his 
implied  rebuke.  But  at  the  same  time  there 
came  a  new  light  into  her  eyes,  which  gave  her 
courage,  and  which  he  could  not  understand. 
Travers,  in  spite  of  the  high  moral  standpoint 
he  had  taken  up,  felt  his  resolution  waver ;  in 
another  instant  the  natural  kindly  impulses  of 
the  man  had  reasserted  themselves. 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,"  he  said,  quietly,  "  but 
I  find  it  very  hard  to  forget.  Give  me  some 
cofi'ee,  Mrs.  Tredennis ;  I  am  both  tired  and 
thirsty.  It  was  very  good  of  you  to  remember 
us.  I  think  the  ranche  is  safe  anyhow.  The 
hay  also  is  saved,  and  the  country  to  the  east." 


♦•Curse  bee  for  ber  Ibeartlcesness ! "  ns 

He  took  a  cup  gently  from  her  hand  and 
dipped  it  in  the  pitcher,  and  taking  a  sandwich 
from  the  basket  which  she  held  out  to  him,  ate 
it  in  silence ;  but  all  the  time  she  eyed  him  nar- 
rowly. Then  she  asked  him,  timidly,  where  he 
had  left  the  round-up,  and  how  he  had  man- 
aged to  get  through  the  prairie  fire  ;  but  never 
once  did  she  mention  her  husband's  name.  In 
the  sombre  light  he  looked  upon  the  fair  face 
that  was  turned  up  to  him  familiarly,  and  his 
thoughts  went  back  to  the  days  when  she  had 
looked  up  to  him  just  as  she  did  now,  but  un- 
der such  different  circumstances.  It  seemed 
unreal,  and  like  some  quaint  dream  to  See  her 
face  looking  from  out  the  surrounding  gloom, 
with  the  lurid  light  playing  upon  it.  Surely  it 
was  one  of  those  fantastic  dreamland  scenes  ; 
for  oftentimes  he  had  spoken  to  her  just  like 
this,  with  all  the  trouble  and  tragedy  of  the 
past  as  if  it  had  never  been.  Every  minute  he 
expected  to  wake  up  and  find  that  he  had  been 
dreaming.  And  now  they  seemed  to  forget 
that  time  was  precious,  and  she  urged  him  to 
eat  and  drink.  "  Cousin  Ned "  and  Briggs 
were  at  least  three  hundred  yards  away,  and 
the  imaginary  dragons  they  were  fighting  were 
having  a  rough  time  of  it. 

"  Why  don't  you  go  home  to  England,  Dick  ?  " 
She  was  not  aware  that  she  was  using  the  old 
name.  "  You  must  be  tired  of  wandering 
about  the  world  like  this :  your  people  will  be 
glad  to  see  you  back,  I'm  sure." 


"6  tTbe  Devil's  iPla^grounD. 

She  had  said  this  in  a  quiet,  earnest  way. 

"Not  they  !  "  he  laughed.  "  If  the  old  folks 
had  been  alive  I  would  have  gone  long  ago. 
The  prodigal  son,  if  he  does  go  back  in  rags,  is 
always  the  same  little  chap  they  dreamt  and 
prayed  such  different  things  about.  But  it  is  a 
cold  reception,  generally  speaking,  a  man  gets 
from  his  other  relatives,  if  he  does  not  happen 
to  have  a  pound  or  two  in  his  pocket.  More 
especially,  if  either  through  his  own  folly  or 
misfortune,  he  has  gone  down  in  the  social 
scale,  while  they  have  gone  up.  No  ;  if  I  went 
home  I  would  only  be  '  that  scape-grace  Dick,' 
and  they  would  speculate  as  to  the  cheapest 
way  of  getting  rid  of  me  again.  With  all  due 
reverence  to  the  Scriptures,  I  often  think  it  very 
evident  that  the  man  who  fell  amongst  thieves, 
when  traveling  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho,  was 
a  ^stranger  to  the  good  Samaritan,  and  not  a 
relation ;  otherwise,  three  men  might  have 
passed  by  on  the  other  side  instead  of  two. 
Oh,  no ! "  he  concluded  with  a  cynical  little 
laugh,  "  the  only  thing  I  have  left  now  is  my  in- 
dependence, and  that  is  not  of  much  account 
— goodness  knows.  Had  I  a  brother,  it  is  to 
be  hoped  I  would  be  speaking  differently." 

She  would  not  trust  herself  to  refute  what  he 
said ;  but  there  was  a  brighter  look  in  her  eyes 
when  she  again  spoke,  and  they  became  won- 
derfully soft  as  she  looked  at  him.  Surely  she 
was  not  the  woman  who  had  wrecked  the  life 
of  this  man  ! 


**Qv.xoe  bet  foe  bcr  Ibeartlcssncss ! "  u? 

"We  must  see  more  of  you,  Dick,  before  we 
go  back  to  England,  And  there  are  two  girls 
who  have  come  here  on  a  visit  whom  I  should 
like  you  to  know  ;  they  came  a  couple  of  days 
ago.  We  are  going  to  organize  a  sort  of 
camping-out  excursion  after  the  round-up  is 
over,  and  going  away  south  into  the  unknown 
country.  You  can  either  shoot  with  Mr.  Terry, 
and  Tredennis,  or  look  after  the  girls,  and  see 
that  they  don't  get  lost,  whichever  you  like  best. 
I  think  we  should  have  a  good  time,"  She  no- 
ticed the  short  shake  of  his  head  implying  dis- 
sent, and  hastened  to  say  "  Oh,  but  you  must 
come ! " 

But  here  Dick  recollected  himself.  Was  it 
for  him  to  stand  idly  here,  talking  to  Mrs.  Tre- 
dennis, while  others  were  busily  engaged  fight- 
ing the  fire  ?  Another  hour's  work,  and  they 
would  have  fought  it  to  the  creek,  and  all  danger 
would  be  past. 

"Mrs,  Tredennis,"  he  said  at  length,  "go 
back  to  the  ranche,  or  let  me  go  back  with 
you ;  I  can  take  the  basket  to  Briggs ;  I  must 
not  let  these  two  do  all  the  work." 

"  I  should  say  you  had  done  more  than  your 
share  already,"  she  said,  simply.  "  I  shall  go 
back  by  my  myself.  Neither  the  girls  nor  I  shall 
go  to  bed  until  you  have  come  back ;  and  re- 
member you  must  come  over  to  the  house  with 
'  Cousin  Ned,'  as  we  always  call  him."  And 
inclining  her  head  smilingly,  she  went  off  in  the 
dim  light  towards  the  ranche  again. 


ii8  Zbc  Devil's  iPla^grounD. 

The  imaginary  dragons  slain  by  the  redoubt- 
able Cousin  Ned  and  Briggs  still  seemed  as 
numerous  as  ever.  Tredennis  took  Briggs' 
place ;  and  after  an  hour's  hard  work,  the  fire 
had  been  fought  to  the  edge  of  the  creek ;  and 
now  the  ranche  and  the  pasture  to  the  east  of  it 
might  be  said  to  be  saved.  Round  about  them 
was  an  inky  darkness,  but  far  away  to  the 
south  and  north  could  be  seen  feeble  reflections 
in  the  sky,  where  the  fire  was  dying  hard. 
They  made  their  way  back  to  the  ranche,  and 
Cousin  Ned,  who  now  somewhat  resembled  a 
chimney-sweep,  and  a  disreputable  one  at  that, 
looked  down  in  the  gloom  upon  his  natty,  Poole 
made  trousers,  and  dainty  white  shirt,  now  any- 
thing but  dainty. 

"  Whew  !  "  he  exclaimed,  "  I  think,  Travers,  I 
rather  think  I've  had  exertion  enough  to  last  me 
all  the  rest  of  my  natural  life — first  time  in  my 
life,  by  the  way,  I  ever  did  anything — glad  to 
have  made  myself  useful  ;  but  hope  to  goodness 
those  girls  have  gone  to  bed." 

But  those  girls  had  not  gone  to  bed,  and  the 
little  man,  when  he  came  near  the  front  of  the 
house,  (he  had  seriously  meditated  slipping  in  by 
a  window,  or  by  some  back  way),  stood  still  with 
horror,  for  there  was  a  light  in  that  French  win- 
dow, and  the  laughing  voices  of  girls  came  from 
it. 

Dick  had  to  take  him  by  the  arm  and  arouse 
him  from  the  spell  of  horror  that  had  overtaken 
him. 


**  Curse  ber  tor  bcr  Ibcartlessncss ! "  ng 

''  Come  this  way,"  he  said  to  him,  "  you  can 
wash  in  my  quarters,  and  then  go  over  ;  when 
you've  put  your  coat  over  your  shirt  it  will  be 
all  right." 

The  little  man  would  have  wrung  Dick's 
hand  with  gratitude,  at  such  an  unexpected 
deliverance,  had  Dick  given  him  an  opportunity. 
They  had  a  good  wash  at  MacMillan's ;  and 
Dick  was  about  to  wish  the  little  man  good- 
night, or  rather  good-morning,  when  Briggs 
came  in,  and  told  him  that  Mrs.  Tredennis 
wanted  to  see  him  over  at  the  house. 

"  Of  course  you've  got  to  come,"  said  Cousin 
Ned  ;  "  in  fact,  I'm  not  going  there  without  you  : 
so  come  along." 

Dick  felt  as  if  he  rather  would  have  been 
excused — in  fact,  he  felt  that  to  have  let  him  go 
quietly  to  bed  would  have  been  the  greater 
kindness.  Most  likely  it  meant  more  refresh- 
ment. It  was  like  the  pranks  of  three  giddy 
girls  to  sit  up  till  that  time  of  the  morning, 
and  organize  an  impromptu  entertainment  of  the 
kind.  He  did  not  feel  very  like  meeting  young 
ladies  in  his  rather  begrimed  condition  ;  but  as 
Cousin  Ned,  on  account  of  his  inexperience, 
was  in  a  much  worse  plight  than  he  was,  he 
would  make  the  best  of  things. 

They  went  round  by  the  front  door,  and 
entered.  The  French  window  was  thrown 
open,  and  a  flood  of  light  poured  out  upon  the 
grey  morn.  There  was  a  Napierian  coffee- 
stand  upon  the  table,  and  a  spirit  lamp  under- 


120         ^be  Devil's  iplaggroun^. 

neath  it ;  a  tray  with  substantial  looking  cups 
and  saucers ;  and  another  with  dainty  looking 
sandwiches.  There  were  two  fresh,  fair-haired, 
Saxon-looking  girls  regarding  Cousin  Ned 
laughingly,  and  the  newcomer  with  not  a  little 
curiosity  ;  and  there  was  Mrs.  Tredennis,  who, 
all  smiles  and  in  the  heartiest  manner  in  the 
world,  bade  them  enter.  She  introduced 
Travers  to  the  two  sisters,  whose  name  was 
Dalton  ;  and  then  bestowed  her  attention  to 
making  the  coffee  and  to  Cousin  Ned.  It  was 
a  touch  of  home  comfort  that  Dick  had  not 
experienced  for  many  a  long  day  ;  under  its  in- 
fluence he  forgot  the  trouble  that  somehow 
always  haunted  him  like  an  evil  shadow,  and 
talked  away  to  the  two  girls  as  if  he  must  have 
known  them  of  old.  But  it  was  Cousin  Ned  to 
whom  was  left  the  literal  task  of  making  his 
mark ;  and  he  did  so  in  a  most  thorough  and 
conscientious  manner. 

Travers,  when  he  entered,  conscious  of  the 
condition — which  was  sooty — of  his  nether  gar- 
ments, had  carefully  avoided  sitting  down  on  any 
chair  about  which  there  was  any  suspicion  of  up- 
holstery or  covering  of  a  delicate  nature.  But 
innocent  Cousin  Ned,  plumped  down  on  one 
which  was  covered  with  some  light  chintz 
pattern,  and  the  result  was,  that  when  he  rose 
to  assist  Mrs.  Tredennis  by  handing  round  the 
cups,  the  effect  was  alarmingly  apparent.  Then 
Mrs.  Tredennis  pretended  to  be  very  much  dis- 
tressed, and  the  two  girls  laughed  immoderately. 


♦'Curse  bee  tor  ber  Ibeartlessness I "  121 

Poor  Ned  looked  ruefully  upon  his  work,  but 
only  for  a  second,  and  brightening  up  declared 
that  "  he  had  made  his  mark  at  last."  He  had 
been  trying  to  do  it,  he  said,  for  quite  a  number 
of  years  and  would  have  given  up  in  despair, 
but  this  was  encouragement  indeed.  In  fact, 
the  little  man  seemed  in  no  way  put  out.  Mrs. 
Tredennis  seemed  in  the  best  of  spirits;  and 
despite  the  early  hour  of  the  morning  and  the 
fatigue  which  he  had  undergone,  Dick,  drawn 
out  by  the  lightheartedness  of  the  little  party, 
chatted  away  unreservedly.  He  told  some 
amusing  experiences  he  had  met  with  in  his 
rolling-stone  existence ;  and  which  seemed  to 
his  audience  almost  like  a  page  out  of  some 
wonderful  work  of  fiction.  He  was  quite  for- 
getting the  lateness  of  the  hour,  when  suddenly 
he  recollected  himself,  and  sprang  to  his  feet  to 
apologize  and  bid  them  good-night. 

"  Have  you  any  message  to  send  back  to  Mr. 
Tredennis  ?  "  he  asked  his  hostess,  "  because, 
when  I've  had  a  couple  of  hours'  sleep,  I'll  go 
back  to  the  round-up." 

"  You  need  be  in  no  hurry  to  go,"  she  said, 
simply.  "  No,  I  don't  think  I  have  any  word  to 
send.  I  only  hope  you  may  all  soon  be  back 
again  ;  Ned,  here,  is  good  enough,  only,  when 

there  is  no  one  else "     The  little  man  here 

darted  an  indignant  look  at  her.  "  Besides,  we 
must  see  about  that  excursion  into  No-Man's 
Land,  when  you  come  back,  and  of  course  I 
want  you,  and  Mr.  Holmes,  to  come  with  us. 


122         ^be  ©evil's  iPlasgrounO. 

We  must  make  the  most  of  our  time  now,  be- 
fore the  winter  sets  in." 

Half  hesitatingly  she  held  her  hand  out  to 
him — perhaps  she  had  only  done  it  uncon- 
sciously from  the  force  of  habit — and  for  the 
first  time  for  many. years  he  took  it  in  his.  But 
there  was  a  something  in  her  action  that  he 
could  not  understand,  and  afterwards,  when  he 
had  retired  to  his  own  quarters,  he  puzzled  over 
it. 

"  She  could  not  have  realized  the  evil  she  has 
wrought  me,"  he  said  to  himself,  "  or  she  would 
not  have  dared  to  offer  me  her  hand.  Curse 
her  for  her  heartlessness  !  "  he  added,  bitterly, 
as  the  old  pain  that  had  been  gnawing  at  his 
heart  for  years,  began  to  ache  again  in  the  lone- 
liness of  his  quarters. 


CHAPTER  X. 

DEEPER    IN    THE    TOILS. 

Next  morning,  or  rather  on  the  same  morn- 
ing of  the  events  narrated  in  the  last  chapter, 
Dick  was  up  betimes,  and  with  a  strange  fever- 
ish eagerness  to  be  off.  He  was  even  up  be- 
fore the  indefatigable  Mrs.  MacMillan,  of  whom 
the  irrepressible  Billie  was  wont  to  say  that, 
according  to  his  firm  belief,  that  good  dame 
never  went  to  bed  at  all.  Billie,  however,  did 
not  like  the  Scotch.  They  were  too  painfully 
suggestive  of  the  practical  details  and  hum- 
drum monotony  of  this  work-a-day  world  for 
him ;  and  Billie's  soul  would  fain  have  soared 
above  the  sordid  necessity  of  having  to  work 
for  a  living. 

To  Dick's  chagrin,  he  found  his  horse,  Bar- 
ney, lame.  The  poor  animal  stood  in  the  stall 
with  a  dejected  air  ;  there  was  a  pinched  look 
about  it,  and  the  hay  in  the  rack  was  untouched. 
However,  on  hearing  Dick's  step,  it  cocked  its 
ears,  and,  turning  round,  whinnied,  as  some 
horses  do,  brushing  its  nose  against  his  face, 
and  testifying  to  its  affection  with  dumb  elo- 
quence.    It  is,  perhaps,  not  to  be  wondered  at 


124         tTbe  Devil's  plaggrounD. 

after  all ;  but  he  whose  horse  has  been  his  most 
constant  companion  (whether  in  the  Australian 
bush  or  on  the  North  American  prairies,  where 
the  wily  black  man  lurks  with  his  spear  in  the 
mallee  scrub,  or  where  the  red  man  or  the 
grizzly  lurks  in  the  coullee)  can  testify  that  at 
the  first  signs  of  danger,  the  horse  seeks  the 
camp  and  its  master.  Dick,  divining  there  was 
something  wrong,  was  leading  it  outside,  when 
he  discovered  what  he  feared,  and  what  his 
practiced  eye  had  told  him — Barney  was  suffer- 
ing from  the  effects  of  the  wild  ride  of  the  day 
before,  and  had  contracted  a  strain.  "  Oh,  my 
poor  Barney  !  "  he  cried  aloud,  with  concern  ; 
and  then,  his  mood  changing  quickly,  as  was  his 
wont,  he  continued,  "  Curse  me  for  a  fool  for 
killing  a  horse  like  you,  to  help  those  who  hold 
my  life  of  as  little  account  as  they  do  yours ! " 

"Indeed  !" 

She  stood  there  in  the  doorway ;  a  lovely ' 
vision  truly,  in  her  bright,  trim,  morning  dress. 
It  was  Mrs.  Tredennis.  With  her  fresh,  fair 
face,  and  a  gleam  of  sunlight  in  her  hair,  an 
artist  might  have  taken  her  as  his  model  for  a 
modern  Aphrodite,  or  Hermione :  she  seemed 
to  breathe  of  the  spirit  of  the  dawn.  So  light 
had  her  step  been,  that  he  had  not  heard  her 
approach. 

And  now,  as  she  heard  his  words,  her  head 
was  thrown  back,  her  cheek  was  slightly 
flushed,  and  there  was  an  indignant  light  in  her 
eyes.     It  was  not  difficult,  however,  to  see  that 


Deeper  in  tbe  Cecils.  125 

a  spirit  of  disappointment  and  mortification 
tinged  her  voice,  altliough  she  tried  to  conceal 
this  fact,  and  that  underneath  all,  there  lurked 
some  secret  trouble  that  made  her  patient  with 
this  man. 

"  Indeed  !  "  she  continued.  "  By  what  right, 
I  asic  you,  Mr.  Travers,  do  you  say  such  things 
of  me  ?  Have  I  not  asked  you  to  leave  the 
past  alone .'  and  have  you  not  said  yourself, 
that  I  am  nothing  to  you  ?— for  it  would  be 
useless  of  me  to  pretend  to  misunderstand  your 
meaning." 

He  had  faced  her  as  soon  as  he  had  spoken 
his  strange  speech,  and  had  become  aware  of 
her  presence,  in  an  annoyed  and  angry  fashion, 
and  as  if  he  were  ready  to  defend  his  rude 
speech.  But  there  are  many  things  spoken 
aloud,  and  meant  to  be  so,  in  a  moment  of  ex- 
oitement,  that  one  would  wish  unheard.  Now, 
he  was  ashamed  to  think — no  matter  what  his 
estimate  of  her  was — that  within  the  last  twelve 
hours  he  had  twice  forgotten  that  respect 
which  was  due  to  her  as  a  lady,  and  that  due 
to  himself  as  a  gentleman.  Moreover,  he  was 
chagrined  to  think  she  should  discover  that  she 
occupied  that  share  in  his  thoughts  which  she 
did.  After  all,  this  palpable  contempt  for  her, 
which  he  tried  to  wear,  as  it  were,  upon  his 
sleeve,  had  for  its  origin  a  reason  which  was 
very  different  from  its  apparent  issue,  and 
which  in  vain  he  tried  to  rid  himself  of.  It  was 
the  smouldering  embers  of  an  old  fire — his  old 


126         Zbc  WcviVs  iPlasGrounO. 

love  for  her.  In  a  second  their  positions  were 
reversed. 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,  Mrs.  Tredennis,"  he 
said,  in  a  quiet  and  totally  different  manner. 
"  I  don't  know  what  is  the  matter  with  me 
sometimes  :  I  arti  continually  saying  things  that 
I  don't  mean.  I'll  soon  be  so  cranky,  that  no 
one  will  be  able  to  live  with  me." 

He  was  uneasy,  and  picked  up  one  of  Bar- 
ney's legs. 

"  That  is  better,  Dick."  She  gave  a  little  un- 
easy laugh.  "  In  any  case,  don't  let  us  quarrel. 
I've  enough  to  bear  without  doing  that.  Now, 
you  must  not  misunderstand  me."  (He  had 
looked  up  into  her  face  suddenly,  with  one  hand 
still  upon  Barney's  fetlock.)  "  I/e,  is  goodness 
itself  to  me." 

She  might  have  added,  and  quite  truthfully 
too,  that  she  felt  ashamed  of  herself  sometimes, 
when  she  thought  of  the  slight  return  she  made 
of  this  kindness. 

And  Dick  said  bitterly  to  himself,  "  Curse 
her,  it  is  always  of  him  she  thinks  ;  he  doesn't 
care  for  her  any  more  than  he  does  for  one  of 
his  most  useful  dogs  ;  and  she  speaks  of  him 
now,  as  she  once  spoke  of  me." 

When  a  man  curses  a  woman,  he  either 
thinks  himself  justified  in  doing  so,  or  else  he 
has  been  miscalled  a  man. 

But  the  unanswered  question  which  had 
arisen  was,  what  burden  was  it  that  this  woman 
had  to  bear,  and  which  she  so  vaguely  referred 
to  ?     She  interrupted  his  thoughts. 


2)eeper  in  tbc  (Tods.  127 

"  Poor  Barney  !  "  she  said,  patting  his  sleek 
mane  and  honest  nose,  and  regarding  anxiously 
the  drawn  up  leg,  where  Dick  was  locating  the 
seat  of  the  trouble.  "  Oh,  Dick,  do  you  think 
it  pains  him  much  ?  Do  you  think  he  will  soon 
get  all  right  again  ?  " 

Dick  did  not  even  smile  at  her  solicitude. 
"Oh,  yes,  I  think  he  will,"  he  said,  somewhat 
ruefully,  however.  "  Only  I  cannot  take  him 
with  me  ;  I  must  take  another  horse  ;  there  are 
lots  here  luckily.  Perhaps  you  might  allow 
Briggs  to  take  a  look  at  Barney's  leg  now  and 
again ;  he  is  rnore  experienced  than  young 
Adams." 

He  looked  at  her  inquiringly  ;  but  she  only 
smiled  upon  him  by  way  of  reply. 

After  a  pause,  she  said,  "  And  I  myself  shall 
see  that  Briggs  does  it." 

"  Thanks  !  "  Then  he  continued,  in  a  very 
different  tone  of  voice  from  that  which  he  had 
adopted  at  first,  'You  must  be  a  very  early 
riser,  Mrs.  Tredennis  ?  " 

He  led  poor  Hmping  Barney  back  mto  the 
stall. 

"  I  usually  am,"  she  said  guiltily,  and  feeling 
somehow  secretly  glad  that  the  letter  she  had 
written  to  her  husband  over-night  was  safe 
in  her  pocket,  and  that,  after  all,  he  knew  noth- 
ing of  it.  "  But  you  will  not  go  back  to  the 
round-up  to-day?  Surely,  you  rode  enough 
yesterday  to  do  you  for  a  couple  of  days  ?  " 

But  seeing  the  look  of  a  fixed  purpose   upon 


128         Zbc  Devil's  BMa^grounD. 

his  face,  she  continued,  "  Then  if  you  will  let 
us  know,  just  a  little  before  you  start  out,  per- 
haps the  girls,  Mr.  Terry,  and  I  will  ride  with 
you  part  of  the  way.  I  want  to  find  the  old 
Macleod  trail  where  it  crosses  Eagle  Butte.  In 
the  meantime,  you  had  better  come  over  and 
have  breakfast  with  us.  You  cannot  come ! 
I  am  afraid,  Dick,  you  are  in  rather  an  unsocia- 
ble mood  this  morning.  Then  we  will  see  you 
later  on." 

And  with  a  pleasant  nod  she  tripped  off,  as  if 
theirs  had  been  the  most  casual  acquaintance 
in  the  world. 

Dick  looked  after  her  thoughtfully  ;  the  sud- 
denness with  which  her  mood  had  changed  puz- 
zled him.  Her  bearing  towards  him  was  an 
enigma  from  first  to  last.  His  instincts — and 
perhaps  they  are  the  safer  guides — told  him 
that  she  was  playing  a  part.  He  firmly  be- 
lieved that  this  woman  had  jilted  him  for  the  most 
mercenary  of  motives,  and  in  the  cruellest  way. 
Fate  (so  called,  and  only  a  natural  sequence  of 
events,  which,  were  it  possible  for  one  individ- 
ual to  control,  might  be  attended  with  less 
remarkable  coincidences)  had  brought  them 
together  again  in  a  manner  that  few  romancists 
would  have  dreamt  of.  He  could  not  reconcile 
the  part  she  played,  which  was  not  that  of  the  con- 
scious wrongdoer,  but  rather  that  of  one  whose 
moral  sense  and  finer  feelings,  have  been  dead- 
ened to  that  which  ought  to  have  been  palpable. 
It  was  difficult  for  him  to  believe  that  the  girl 


Beeper  in  tbe  (Toils.  129 

he  had  once  known,  and  whose  nobility  of  soul 
he  had  once  believed  in,  just  as  firmly  as  he  had 
believed  in  that  parental  love  which  had  watched 
over  him  when  a  child,  had  changed  so  utterly. 
But  still  the  fact  remained  that  w4ien  he  had 
taxed  her  with  heartless  conduct  towards  him, 
she  had  not  attempted  to  gainsay  it.  She  had 
only  asked  him  to  dismiss  the  past  from  his 
mind  altogether.  Was  it  that  she  made  light 
of  the  past,  and  could  never  have  felt  as  he  had 
done .''  Or  was  it  that,  deep  down  within  her, 
there  was  a  "  still,  small  voice  "  that  would  not 
be  hushed,  and  which  she  tried  to  appease  by 
endeavoring  to  make  amends — by  treating  him 
with  kindness  and  consideration,  with  the  ul- 
timate hope,  perhaps,  that  time  might  dull  the 
edge  of  his  disappointment,  and  show  him  all 
that  was  commonplace  in  her  nature.'*  Per- 
haps he  might  be  brought  to  see  that  she  was 
not  worthy  of  his  serious  consideration  after 
all.  She  had  the  keen  instincts  of  her  sex ; 
but  doubtless  she  under-rated  the  deep,  strong 
under-current  of  this  man's  nature.  Instead  of 
trying  to  cure  him  of  the  old  disease,  she  ought 
to  have  allowed  it  to  run  its  course,  and  let  him 
go  on  his  own  way.  But  it  was  the  old  story  of 
the  Argonaut  of  old-world  seas,  with  Scylla  on 
the  one  side,  and  Charybdis  on  the  other.  Bet- 
ter for  herself  and  himself,  perhaps,  if  she  had 
let  him  go. 

But  Dick  was  in   an    uncharitable    frame   of 
mind  ;  he  told  himself  that  she  was  a  heartless 


130         Zbc  ©evil's  pla^grounD. 

coquette — one  who  had  the  power  to  draw  him 
whichever  way  her  fancy  listed.  She  was  in 
his  eyes  a  species  of  human  vampire,  whose 
thirst  for  the  blood  of  man  would  never  be 
satiated — she  played  a  part  in  order  to  consum- 
mate the  utter  destruction  of  his  already 
wrecked  life.  And  still  she  was  the  wife  of  an- 
other man.  But  so  was  Laura  when  Petrarch 
made  her  name  immortal,  and  pined  for  the 
love  of  her  in  the  dim,  dead  past,  hundreds  of 
years  ago,  in  sunny  Italy.  Alas !  that  the 
higher  law  should  grow  weaker,  and  be  lost 
sight  of,  as  Nature's  law  asserts  its  more  potent 
touch.  But  is  this  not  only  part  of  the  great 
scheme — that  only  through  the  lessons  Error 
teaches,  shall  mind  at  last  attain  the  mastery 
over  matter .'' 

He  cursed  her  for  her  heartlessness  ;  and  he 
cursed  himself  for  his  folly,  in  that  he  could 
not  break  the  spell  that  bound  him  to  her,  and 
which  was  ever  more  surely  weaving  its  invisi- 
ble toils  around  him. 

Dick  went  into  the  foreman's  house,  and 
having  had  what  little  breakfast  he  wanted, 
was  about  to  send  some  excuse  over  to  Mrs. 
Tredennis,  and  start  off  by  himself,  when  he 
was  surprised  by  the  volatile  Mr.  Terry,  other- 
wise Cousin  Ned,  breaking  in  upon  him. 

"  How  are  you,  my  dear  fellow ;  how  are 
you  ?  "  said  that  individual,  shaking  Dick  by 
the  hand,  as  if  he  were  a  particularly  near  and 
dear  relative  whom  he  had  lost  sight  of  for   at 


Deeper  In  tbe  ZoUe,  131 

least  a  dozen  years.  "  Heard  you  were  up  at  a 
most  unconscionable  hour,  and  that  you  insist 
on  going  back  to  the  round-up.  Now  if  you 
must  go  back,  the  ladies  and  I  would  like  to 
ride  part  of  the  way  with  you.  They  want  to 
have  a  look  at  a  bit  of  burnt  prairie,  I  suppose  ; 
rather  a  dismal  sight  I  should  fancy.  You'll  let 
us  know  when  you  think  of  starting  out  ?  " 

The  spirits  of  the  little  man  were  infec- 
tious. 

"I'm  going  as  soon  as  I  can  catch  a  horse," 
said  Dick  ;  "  the  lad  has  run  a  few  into  the  cor- 
ral. Didn't  know  there  was  more  than  one 
lady's  hack  on  the  ranche.'' 

"  Mrs.  Tredennis  broke  in  a  couple  to  the 
side-saddle  while  you've  been  away.  I'll  just 
run  across  and  tell  them,  and  get  Briggs  to  sad- 
dle up.  You  won't  have  a  drop  of  something 
before  you  start  ?  No! — quite  right — sun  not 
in  the  desired  quarter  yet  when  taken  advan- 
tage of  by  nautical  men.  Back  in  a  jiffey,"  and 
Cousin  Ned,  still  talking,  hurried  off. 

In  half  an  hour  the  party  had  saddled  up  and 
were  ready  for  a  start.  Mrs.  Tredennis  rode 
her  own  bay  mare,  and  the  Dalton  girls,  and 
Mr.  Terry  rode  well-cared-for  and  evidently 
well  broken  bronchos,  which  for  general  use 
and  sure-footedness,  are  by  far  the  best  and 
most  serviceable  hacks  on  the  prairie. 

Away  they  went  over  the  billowy  expanse  of 
rolling  prairie,  and  left  the  bright-colored,  bold, 
pine-crested  crags  behind  them.     There  was  a 


132         Zbc  Devil's  iPla^grounD. 

peculiar  smell  as  of  some  burnt  substance  in 
the  keen,  dry  air,  and  a  haziness  in  the  eastern 
horizon  that  betokened  the  presence  of  the  Fire 
King  in  that  direction.  They  crossed  Medicine 
Lodge  Coullee,  and  rounded  the  shoulder  of 
"  Eagle  Butte  "  by  the  old  Fort  Macleod  trail. 
Then.  Lo  !  as  if  by  the  wand  of  an  enchanter, 
a  weird  sight  met  their  gaze — an  apparently 
limitless,  jet-black  landscape. 

Far  as  the  eye  could  reach  to  the  west,  lay  a 
rolling  land  of  buttes  and  coullees,  that,  like  bil- 
low upon  billow  on  an  interminable  expanse  of 
ocean,  pursued  and  rose  one  on  another,  until 
they  rolled  away  and  became  part  of  the  dead 
level  again  of  the  far  horizon  line.  But  they 
were  billows  of  a  vivid,  inky  blackness — they 
were  black  as  night,  and  contrasted  strangely 
with  the  smiling  azure  of  the  heavens.  To  one 
who  had  never  seen  the  effects  of  a  prairie  fire, 
it  was  an  outr^  sight.  But  to  look  towards  the 
south-west  there  was  another  effect,  and  a 
stranger  one  still.  For,  as  if  a  jagged  knife 
had  been  drawn  from  north-east  to  south-west, 
the  country  to  the  east  of  that  jagged  line  was 
untouched  by  the  fire,  and  the  result  was,  that 
one-half  of  the  landscape  was  of  a  light  grey 
tone,  and  the  other  was  as  black  as  ink.  And 
set  in  the  bosom  of  that  jet-black  sea,  like  a 
diamond  set  in  a  bed  of  ebony,  gleamed  Pagh- 
ogh-kee  Lake,  that  lake  which  the  Indians  have 
named  Bad  Water  Lake,  now  none  the  less 
striking  on   account  of  the  snow-white  alkali 


Deeper  In  tbe  Q;o(l6.  133 

which  crusted  its  banks,  and  contrasted  so 
strongly  with  its  setting. 

"  Do  you  think  it  would  be  possible  to  convey 
even  a  faint  idea  of  such  a  scene,  supposing 
one  could  transfer  it  to  canvas  ?  "  Mrs.  Tre- 
dennis  asked  Dick.  She  had  brought  her 
horse  alongside  his,  and  asked  the  question  in 
an  abstracted  fashion. 

"  The  scene  is  blighted  and  desolate  enough  : 
to  you  it  might  prove  a  congenial  subject ;  for 
my  part  I'd  prefer  something  more  cheerful." 
He  said  this  easily  enough,  and  without  look- 
ing at  her. 

She  turned  her  head  quickly  and  looked  at 
him ;  the  same  flush  coming  into  her  cheeks, 
and  the  same  light  into  her  ej'es,  just  as  they 
had  done  only  a  few  hours  before.  She  gazed 
at  him  steadily  for  a  second  or  two,  then  turned 
away  without  making  any  comment  on  what 
savored  of  flippancy. 

"  It  is  fortunate  you  have  to  go  in  a  southerly 
direction,"  she  said,  at  length,  "  for  now  we 
can  keep  off  the  burnt  country.  It  is  not  a 
particularly  cheerful  sight,  I  must  admit,"  She 
checked  her  horse  for  an  instant,  under  the 
pretext  of  getting  something  from  the  pouch 
attached  to  her  side-saddle  ;  but  when  she  rode 
on  again  it  was  alongside  Mr.  Terry.  And  the 
two  quick-witted  English  girls  intuitively  ex- 
changed glances ;  they  had  seen  her  in  a  light 
which  was  not  only  a  surprise,  but  a  puzzle  to 
them.  From  such  trivial  details,  are  strange 
conclusions  sometimes  drawn. 


134  tTbe  "BcvWs  iPla^grounJ). 

It  was  a  glorious  autumn  day,  and  as  they 
rode  abreast  they  chatted  merrily  and  unre- 
servedly. The  keen,  dry  air,  of  the  prairie  is 
an  elixir  whose  power  can  only  be  estimated 
by  those  who  have  experienced  it.  Suddenly, 
and  as  they  walked  their  horses  along  a  stony 
coullee  through  which  a  languidly,  flowing 
creek  filtered,  they  met  with  an  unexpected 
interruption. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

"  HANDS   UP,"  AND   THE   NORTHWEST  MOUN- 
TED   POLICE. 

The  interruption,  referred  to  in  the  preceding 
ciiapter,  came  in  the  shape  of  a  horseman,  who, 
in  a  second,  Dick  recognized  as  a  Northwest 
Mounted  PoHceman,  belonging  to  that  semi- 
military  organization,  whose  pet  predilections 
are  horse  thieves,  "  bad  men,"  and  Indians. 
Though  in  undress  prairie-rig  there  was  no 
mistaking  him.  Peeping  from  the  tops  of  his 
heavy  leather  chaperegos  were  the  dark  blue, 
tight-fitting  breeches,  with  the  yellow  stripe  of 
the  dragoon — one  could  not  see  the  long  riding 
boots.  He  wore  no  coat,  but  a  dark  grey  shirt 
with  a  white  pocket-handkerchief  tied  round  his 
neck  loosely,  showing  his  sunburnt  throat.  A 
dark  karlee  jacket,  with  a  neat  military  button, 
was  tied  to  the  saddle  behind  him.  A  brown 
slouch  hat  shaded  his  eyes.  To  the  high  horn 
of  his  Californian  saddle  was  slung  a  Winchester 
repeating  rifle,  of  large  calibre  ;  a  heavy  Enfield 
revolver,  and  a  belt  full  of  brass  cartridges 
encircled  his  waist.  He  rode  a  mettlesome 
broncho,  which  bore  the  legend   M.P.  branded 


136  XLbe  Devil's  IPla^grounD. 

on' its  near  shoulder,  and  there  was  a  regimental 
number  branded  on  its  hoof.  The  man  himself 
was  a  good-looking  fellow  enough,  with  an 
alert,  pleasant,  open  face  that  was  tanned  by 
the  sun  and  wind  until  it  was  as  brown  as  a 
berry.  There  was  an  air  about  him  that 
bespoke  a  training  which  the  cowboy — whom  at 
first  sight  he  not  a  little  resembled— could  not 
lay  claim  to.  When  he  raised  his  broad- 
brimmed  prairie  hat  on  approaching  the  party, 
he  showed  keen,  dark  eyes,  that  were  quick  to 
observe,  and  betokened  a  mind  that  was  as 
quick  to  act.  Belonging  to  a  profession  that 
has  at  all  times  to  be  prepared  to  face  danger,  a 
certain  air  of  sang-froid  sat  well  on  a  resolute 
but  not  unkindly  face.  He  had  walked  his 
horse  down  a  little  side  coullee  that  led  to  the 
creek  bottom.  A  little  further  up  the  coullee 
could  be  observed  other  two  Mounted  Police- 
men, and  a  long-haired,  lanky  half-breed,  who 
was  evidently  a  scout.  When  he  got  within  a 
few  yards  of  them,  he  was  evidently  not  a  little 
surprised  to  find  such  a  strange  party  in  such  an 
out-of-the-way  part  of  the  country ;  he  halted, 
but  said,  without  seeming  embarrassment — 

"\  beg  your  pardon  for  interrupting  you,  and 
I  can  only  make  the  discharge  of  my  duty  my 
apology.  You  see  I  am  a  Mounted  Policeman. 
I  do  not  wish  to  alarm  you,  ladies ;  but  if  you 
wouldn't  mind  waiting  up  this  coullee  for  half 
an  hour  or  so,  or  at  least  traveling  in  some 
other  direction  than  down  this   creek  bottom,  I 


tTbe  IRortbwcst  /llbouuteD  police,    137 

should  be  very  much  obliged.  The  fact  of  the 
matter  is,  there's  a  couple  of  fellows  camped  at 
the  present  moment  not  a  couple  of  miles  from 
here,  with  whom  we  are  anxious  to  have  an 
interview.  They  come  from  Montana,  and  one 
is  wanted  for  murder  ;  both  are  wanted  for  lack 
of  discrimination  between  their  own  and  their 
neighbor's  horseflesh.  We  were  just  proceed- 
ing to  hold  them  up  when  we  saw  you  coming, 
but  thought  perhaps  you  would  like  an  oppor- 
tunity of  avoiding  such  a  painful  interview. "  He 
smiled  pleasantly  and  as  if  he  were  telling  about 
the  most  commonplace  matter  in  the  world. 
Observing  Dick  particularly,  he  addressed  him- 
self to  him.  "  I  see  you  have  your  revolver,  and 
I  know  who  you  are.  If  you  care  about  taking 
a  hand  in  the  formalities,  we  shall  be  glad  to 
have  you,  as  I've  one  man — a  lad  here — whom 
I  think  it  would  be  more  discreet  to  leave  with 
the  spare  horses ;  I  rather  think  that  '  Black 
Jim  '  and  his  worthy  friend  have  a  couple  of 
horses  in  their  possession,  that  you  will  be  able 
to  identify.  The  other  gentleman  " — looking  at 
Mr.  Terry — "  can  stop  and  protect  the  ladies." 

"  By  all  means,"  Dick  answered,  eagerly.  He 
looked  at  the  ladies  inquiringly ;  but  there  was 
no  dissent  in  their  looks. 

"  Do  you  mind  excusing  me  ?  "  he  asked. 
"  I  consider  it  only  my  duty  to  go.  You  see, 
these  Montana  chaps  are  evidently  making  free 
with  our  horses.  You  can  go  back  to  the 
ranche,  if  you  would  prefer  it,  or  rest  here  up 


138         Zbc  Devil's  iPla^grounO, 

the  coullee.  Perhaps  you  had  better  go  back," 
he  added,  thoughtfully. 

His  manner  had  changed.  There  was  a 
chance  of  a  tussle  and  a  bit  of  excitement,  not 
to  speak  of  a  considerable  spice  of  danger, 
and  his  spirits  rose.  He  looked  at  Mrs.  Tre- 
dennis. 

"  Why,  certainly  go,  Mr.  Travers,"  she  said 
promptly,  and  as  if  some  of  the  excitement  of 
the  situation  had  communicated  itself  to  her. 
"  I  wish  " — turning  to  the  trooper — "  that  I 
were  a  man.  to  be  able  to  go  with  you." 

The  trooper,  no  matter  what  surprise  he  felt 
at  this  rather  unorthodox  speech,  merely  lifted 
his  hat  and  smiled  in  a  pleased  sort  of  fashion. 

Then  turning  again  to  Dick,  she  added — 

"  You  can  go  if  you  want  to,  and  we  shall 
rest  up  here  until  you  come  back ;  but  pray  take 
care  of  yourself,  and  don't  be  rash — you  always 
were." 

"  Oh,  I'll  be  all  right,"  Dick  answered,  care- 
lessly. And  then  as  the  party  turned  their 
horses'  heads  up  the  coullee,  and  his  horse  al- 
most brushed  against  that  of  Mrs.  Tredennis, 
he  said,  in  a  lower  tone,  and  with  a  slight  laugh, 
"  Your  solicitude  is  very  gratifying,  I'm  sure." 
And  the  elder  of  the  two  English  girls— she 
with  the  fair,  fresh  skin,  and  the  thoughtful 
look  in  her  striking  dark  blue  eyes — heard  the 
veiled  sarcasm,  and  turned  away  her  face 
quickly,  so  that  she  might  hear  no  more. 

The  rest  of  the  party  acquiesced  readily  in 


^be  IRortbvvest  /HbounteD  police.    139 

the  plan.  The  non-commissioned  officer  of  po- 
lice— for  such  he  was — led  them  up  the  little 
coullee.  When  they  had  reached  a  little  grassy 
amphitheatre  the  troopers  came  forward,  and 
with  a  courtesy  which  somewhat  surprised  the 
ladies  of  the  party,  assisted  them  to  dismount. 
Perhaps  the  latter  had  forgotten  the  fact  just 
then,  that  the  rank  and  file  of  this  force  is 
largely  composed  of  gentlemen. 

"  Here,  Jim,"  said  the  non-com.,  "  get  the 
hobbles  out  of  the  pack  ;  or  perhaps,  under  the 
circumstances,  it  would  be  better  simply  to  tie 
the  horses  up  in  the  shade."  There  was  a 
couple  of  ancient  cotton-wood  trees,  keeping 
sentinel  over  a  little  spring  in  the  side  of  the 
coullee.  "Now,  Markham  "—this  to  a  good 
looking  young  fellow,  who  seemed  a  mere  lad 
— "  you  have  got  to  stop  here  and  keep  your 
eye  on  the  spare  horses.  I'm  sorry  I  can't  ask 
you  to  take  a  hand  in  this  affair,  but  you  will  be 
performing  a  more  important  duty  by  remain- 
ing here  with  the  ladies.  We  shall  not  be 
longer  away  than  we  can  help.  You,  sir  " — 
turning  to  Dick — "can  take  this  spare  Win- 
chester. Yes,  magazine  full  and  one  in  the 
breech :  eight  shots.  All  right  ?  Then  we 
shall  proceed."  At  the  same  moment  he 
quickly  pushed  a  pair  of  nickel-plated  hand- 
cuffs into  his  belt,  and  flung  another  pair  to 
the  other  constable.  "  Carry  them  so  that  they 
won't  rattle,"  he  said,  briefly. 

"  Now  then,  Mac,"  said  Markham,  "  if  you're 


I40         ^be  Devil's  iPla^grounD. 

inclined  to  be  rash,  think  of  Larry's  ten-dollar 
coffin." 

The  non-com.  only  laughed. 

"  Do  I  gather  from  what  you  say,"  queried 
Mr.  Terry,  "  that  a  policeman's  funeral  ex- 
penses are  limited  to  two  pounds  sterling  ? 
You  can't  get  a  decent  coffin  for  that." 

"  No,  not  a  decent  one,"  answered  the  com- 
municative youngster,  "  and  I'll  tell  you  be- 
cause I  think  it  ought  to  be  known  ;  but  it  will 
get  one  like  the  temper  of  the  man  who  framed 
the  General  Order  regarding  it — a  deuced  '  in- 
different '  one." 

Then  the  policeman  and  the  dark-eyed,  long- 
haired scout,  tightened  the  cinches  on  their 
saddles,  slung  their  carbines,  and  without  a 
word  headed  up  the  couUee.  In  another  min- 
ute they  had  passed  out  of  sight.  The  breed 
was  in  the  lead,  then  the  non-com.,  then  Dick, 
and  the  "buck"  brought  up  the  rear. 

And  all  this  had  happened  in  such  a  very  few 
minutes  that  before  the  ladies  and  Mr.  Terry 
could  almost  realize  it,  they  were  alone  with 
the  youthful  Mounted  Policeman.  After  a  few 
minutes,  during  which  this  individual  had  fur- 
tively "  taken  stock  "  of  the  ladies  of  the  party, 
and  after  having  seen  that  the  horses  were  tied 
up  properly,  he  broke  the  silence.  He  was  evi- 
dently a  gentleman,  but  an  odd  character,  and 
addressed  himself  to  Mr.  Terry  ;  but  the  ladies 
had  the  benefit  of,  and  were  not  a  little  amused 
by  his  conversation.     It  was  very  evident   he 


Zbc  IRortbwest  /DbounteJ)  police.    141 

was  much  disappointed  at  not  being  allowed  to 
accompany  his  comrades ;  but  the  ladies  he 
was  left  with  were  young  and  good  looking, 
and  so,  what  he  had  set  his  heart  upon  doing, 
and  his  innate  gallantry,  had  a  hard  struggle 
within  him. 

"It's  always  the  way,"  he  remarked,  sadly ; 
"  my  chance  for  the  stripes  gone  again,  unless 
Mac,  that's  the  non-com.,  puts  in  a  word  for 
me.  They'll  have  to  look  out  for  '  Black  Jim,' 
however ;  he  shot  a  comrade  over  at  Benton, 
and  he  will  put  some  lead  into  one  or  other  of 
them  safe  enough,  if  they  don't  look  precious 
smart.  It  means  transportation  for  life  if  not 
hanging  for  him  anyhow,  so  he  doesn't  care 
what  he  does." 

"  You  think  there's  a  chance  of  one  or  other 
of  them  getting  shot,  then  ?  "  asked  Miss  Dal- 
ton,  as  she  sat  on  the  mossy  bank,  tapping  one 
of  her  boots  with  her  riding  whip,  and  gazing 
fixedly  at  the  opposite  side  of  the  little  coullee. 
She  raised  her  eyes  suddenly,  and  scanned  the 
face  of  the  policeman,  who  wondered  if  he  had 
forgotten  himself,  and  inadvertently  lapsed  in 
some  "  barrack-room  "  jargon.  He  blushed, 
and  stammered — 

"Well,  yes — no — that  is,  there  can  be  little 
doubt.  I  should  not  like  to  commit  myself,  but 
I  should  certainly  say  that  of  your  two  friends, 
this  gentleman  runs  much  less  risk  of  getting 
some  lead  introduced  into  his  system  than  the 
other  one.'' 


142  XLbc  Devil's  pla^QrounD. 

"  Why,  come  now,"  interrupted  the  some- 
what discomfited  Cousin  Ned,  "  I  like  that,  you 
know ;  I  had  as  little  choice  in  the  matter  as 
you  had  yourself.  I  would  rather  have  enjoyed 
a  pop  at  the  beggars." 

The  younger  of  the  two  girls  straightway 
called  him  a  "  blood-thirsty  creature,"  but  Mrs. 
Tredennis  and  Miss  Dalton  were  evidently  in  a 
thoughtful  mood.  However  were  they  to  put 
in  the  time  until  the  party  came  back  again  ? 
Mrs.  Tredennis  looked  at  her  watch — ten  min- 
utes past  twelve.  It  was  twelve  when  Dick 
had  left  them.  What  a  strange  and  unex- 
pected position  for  a  party  of  well-bred  Eng- 
lish people  to  be  in,  who  perhaps  only  a  few 
weeks  before  had  been  unconcernedly  picking 
their  way  along  the  classic  flags  of  Oxford 
Street. 

"  However,"  said  the  good-looking  irrepres- 
sible, "  they  have  not  M'Ginty  to  spoil  the 
whole  thing  ;  and  Louey,  that's  the  scout,  is  to 
be  relied  upon." 

"  Who  is  M'Ginty  ?  "  asked  Mr.  Terry,  only 
too  glad  to  indulge  in  conversation  however 
trivial.  The  ladies  were  so  strangely  silent, 
and  the  time  seemed  to  drag  so  heavily. 

"  Well,  perhaps  it  is  questionable  taste — if  it 
is  not  indiscreet  to  begin  with — to  talk  about 
my  superiors  to  comparative  strangers ;  but 
then  M'Ginty  has  through  his  own  folly  ren- 
dered himself  so  notorious,  that  there  are  few 
members  of  the  force  who  scruple  to  talk  about 


tTbe  "IFlortbvvest  /iRountcD  police.    143 

him  openly.  M'Ginty,  as  we  call  him,  is  an  in- 
spector. He  got  his  commission  through 
political  influence — some  uncle  or  other  who 
only  imperfectly  knew  his  nephew.  When  he 
laid  down  the  yard-stick— he  had  been  in  a  dry- 
goods  store — and  took  up  the  sword,  like  all 
beggars  when  put  on  horseback,  he  became  a 
martinet  and  the  laughing-stock  of  the  force. 
He  once  told  a  comrade  of  mine  to  use  his  own 
discretion  in  a  certain  difficult  task  he  was  en- 
gaged in.  Then,  when  this  man  did  his  duty — 
a  difficult  and  unpleasant  one,  I  can  tell  you — 
and  incurred  the  ill-will  of  a  few  civilian  friends 
of  this  inspector's,  and  with  whom  he  clashed, 
M'Ginty  fined  him  on  suspicion  of  having  used 
his  own  brains,  and  for  not  keeping  awake  for 
seventy-two  hours  at  a  stretch.  He  was  told 
that  '  a  policeman  was  a  machine,  and  not  sup- 
posed to  think.'  Goodness  save  the  mark ! 
Why,  there  are  men  of  the  rank  and  file — but 
I'd  better  hold  my  tongue.  I've  said  more  than 
I  intended  to  say." 

The  younger  Miss  Dalton  laughed.  "  Was 
there  no  appeal  for  your  friend  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  Thank  goodness,  there  was  !  "  answered 
the  communicative  young  private.  "  M'Ginty's 
superior  was  a  sensible  man  as  well  as  a  gen- 
tleman, and  promptly  sat  on  M'Ginty.  We 
have  many  good  officers,  however.  Perhaps 
the  best  we  ever  had,  was  the  late  Assistant 
Commissioner,  Colonel  Herchmer." 

There  was  a  pause  after  this,  during  which 


144         ^be  WcviVe  iPla^grounD. 

the  policeman  employed  himself  in  fixing  the 
buckle  of  a  very  unregimental  looking  Mexican 
spur,  and  looking  furtively  at  the  younger  of 
the  two  girls.  Mrs.  Tredennis  had^risen  from 
the  mossy  bank  on  which  she  had  seated  her- 
self, and  was  pacing  aimlessly  backwards  and 
forwards.  Miss  Dalton  sat  silent  and  immov- 
able, with  an  uneasy  look  on  her  face  that  in 
vain  she  tried  to  conceal ;  and  in  the  faces  of 
both  women  there  was  that  wearied  expression, 
as  of  minds  which  are  undergoing  some  painful 
tension.  Even  Mr.  Terry  behaved  strangely ; 
for  that  gentleman  after  lengthening  his  stir- 
rups by  a  couple  of  holes,  as  carefully  shortened 
them  again  to  their  original  length  ;  and  then 
for  lack  of  something  better  to  do,  gravitated 
in  an  aimless  fashion  from  one  horse  to  another, 
as  if  studying  the  habits  of  these  interesting 
quadrupeds. 

What  was  going  on  down  the  coullee,  and 
would  Dick  never  come  back?  Mrs.  Tre- 
dennis looked  at  her  watch  again — half-past 
twelve.  How  heavily  the  minutes  dragged. 
It  seemed  an  age  since  the  police  party  left. 

Suddenly,  and  with  an  ominous  sound  that 
paled  the  cheeks  of  the  women,  and  caused  the 
Mounted  Policeman  to  spring  to  his  feet,  a 
couple  of  shots  rang  out  down  the  coullee ; 
then  another  shot  was  heard — two  rifle  shots 
and  one  revolver.  In  another  second  a  series 
of  remarkable  echoes  were  heard.  They  rattled 
from    hillside    to    hillside,    seeming    to    gain 


Zbc  Bortbwcst  /ilbountcD  ipolicc.    145 

strength  as  they  rolled  along,  and  then  dying 
away  agahi  in  the  far  distance. 

What  an  eternity  in  the  minutes  that  fol- 
lowed. 

******* 

Following  one  another  in  Indian  file  the 
Police  party,  accompanied  by  Dick,  ascended  the 
couUee,  and  then  keeping  as  much  as  possible 
in  any  slight  low-lying  ground  that  the  nature 
of  the  bench  permitted,  they  threaded  their 
way  across  the  somewhat  exposed  plateau. 
No  one  spoke  for  a  few  minutes ;  but  the 
keen,  dark  eyes  of  the  long-haired  half-breed 
shifted  restlessly  around,  putting  one  in  mind 
of  his  near  ancester,  the  primitive  red-man  in 
the  hunt,  or  on  the  war-path.  When  they  had 
ridden  a  matter  of  a  mile  or  so,  they  came 
suddenly  to  steep  cut  banks,  between  which 
ran  a  sluggish  stream  of  water,  which  trickled 
over  slabs  of  a  slate-like  formation,  and  be- 
tween and  under  a  tangled  undergrowth. 
From  it  rose  box-elder,  wolf-willow,  and  birch, 
whose  golden  and  bronze  tints  imparted  a  rich- 
ness of  coloring  beautiful  to  look  upon. 

In  a  little  basin  overlooking  this  creek — 
which  about  half  a  mile  further  down  joined 
the  main  coullee — they  paused,  and  held  a 
brief  council  of  war, 

"  Now,  Louey,"  said  the  non-com.,  turning  to 
the  half-breed,  "  you  want  to  dismount  and 
leave  your  horse  with  us.  Get  down  into  the 
creek,  crawl  through  the  bushes  (you   can  do 


146  Zbc  2)evil'6  iPlasgrounD. 

this  sort  of  thing  better  than  any  of  us  can) 
and  take  stock  of  where  the  beggars  are,  and 
where  their  firearms  are  placed.  For  God's 
sake  don't  let  any  of  them  see  you  !  Luckily 
they  haven't  a  dog.  If  they  should  by  any 
chance  see  you "  (and  here  he  lowered  his 
voice),  "  don't  stand  upon  ceremony  with 
them,  or  wait  for  an  introduction — they  won't ; 
fire  low,  and  drop  your  man.  It  will  be  your 
only  chance,  you  understand.  Lose  no  time 
in  getting  back,  so  that  we  may  know  the  best 
way  of  getting  the  '  dead  drop  '  upon  them,  as 
they  are  rather  distinguished  gentry,  and  des- 
perate ones  to  boot.  And  give  us  the  call, 
you  know,  so  that  we  can  tell  where  you  are 
in  case  of  accidents." 

"  You  bet,  boss  ;  I  am  the  hackimo  !  "  an- 
swered Louey,  whose  long,  gaunt  face  was  by 
no  means  an  unpleasant  one.  "  No,  I  sha'n't 
take  any  rifle ;  better  without  one  ;  my  re- 
volver's good  enough.  Take  care  of  your- 
selves." 

And  with  this  speech,  Louey  handed  his 
reins  over  to  the  constable,  crawled  to  the  edge 
of  the  cut-bank,  dropped  over  it,  and  disap- 
peared. 

"  He's  the  best,  or  one  of  the  best  scouts  the 
Mounted  Police  have,"  whispered  the  non-com. 
to  Dick.  "  He  is  true  as  steel ;  and  can  knock 
the  head  off  a  prairie-chicken  with  a  Winches- 
ter at  sixty  yards.     Listen  !  " 

A   curlew   down   the   coullee   had  evidently 


Q^be  IRortbwest  ^ounteD  iPoUcc.    147 

been  disturbed  by  the  breed's  progress,  for 
Dick  could  hear  its  mournful,  eerie  cry  as  it 
flew  off  piping  down  the  hollow.  Dick,  how- 
ever, could  not  see  the  bird. 

"  Damn  the  bird  I "  said  the  trooper,  "  it 
makes  an  awful  row."  He,  however,  looked 
knowingly  at  his  comrade  as  he  spoke. 

The  non-com.  smiled  as  he  explained  to 
Dick,  "That's  no  bird.  It's  Louey  letting  us 
know  his  whereabouts.  Everything  is  right  so 
far." 

Did  you  ever  hunt  with  the  Australian  savage 
in  the  bush,  or  the  red-man  on  the  North 
American  prairies,  where  there  was  a  strip  of 
timber .''  No  ?  Then  follow  this  scout,  the 
descendant  of  the  red-man,  to  whose  inherited 
hunting  instincts  has  been  added  some  of  the 
superior  mtelligence  of  the  white  man. 

Now,  down  on  his  hands  and  knees  ;  then, 
crawling  along  the  ground  like  some  half-human 
reptile  (if  such  an  expression  is  permissible),  he 
makes  his  way  through  the  tangle  and  under- 
growth, and  bears  down  the  coullee.  He 
comes  to  a  little  knoll ;  with  a  toss  of  his  head 
he  shakes  his  long  black  hair  from  in  front  of 
his  eyes,  and  until  it  falls  over  his  shoulders. 
Slightly  turning  his  head  on  one  side,  and  with 
every  instinct  quickened,  he  slowly,  slowly 
raises  his  head,  till  from  behind  a  tussock  of 
grass,  with  one  eye  only,  perhaps,  he  can  see 
over  the  little  knoll.     He  is  evidently  satisfied 


148         Zbc  Devd's  ipla^grounD. 

with  his  survey,  for  one  can  ahiiost  hear  him 
breathing  again.  Rising  to  his  feet  he  seeks 
the  half-dry  bed  of  the  watercourse.  Crouch- 
ing down  until  with  his  long  arms  his  hands  oc- 
casionally help  to 'balance  him  on  the  ground, 
he  shambles  along  at  an  easy  jog.  His  move- 
ments remind  one  of  the  ungainly  slouch  of  a 
bear.  And  now  he  comes  to  a  thick  under- 
growth, and  here  his  movements  change  again. 
He  glides  like  a  shadow ;  he  crawls  like  a 
snake  ;  he  steps  as  gingerly  as  a  dancing  master 
might  be  expected  to  do  upon  a  carpet  strewed 
with  eggs  ;  but  never  by  any  chance  does  he  dis- 
turb a  bough,  or  snap  a  rotten  twig ;  you  can 
hardly  hear  the  rustle  of  a  leaf.  But  now  a 
wildcat  catches  sight  of  him,  Vv'hich,  with  an  an- 
gry snarl,  and  a  rush  from  its  lair  in  the  tangled 
undergrowth,  heads  off  down  the  couUee.  In  a 
second,  the  piercing  notes  of  a  curlew  rise  from 
the  place  where  the  scout  lies  hid. 

******* 

A  couple  of  rough-looking  men  on  a  clear 
spot,  about  a  hundred  yards  or  so  further  down 
at  the  junction  of  the  two  coullees,  are  seated 
on  the  ground.  They  are  in  a  slight  hollow, 
and  are  watching  a  camp-kettle  boil  upon  the 
small  fire  they  have  made.  Their  saddles  and 
other  gear  are  lying  about ;  and  in  a  small 
pocket,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  coullee,  a 
small  mob  of  horses  are  to  be  seen  feeding. 

They  are  smoking  their  pipes  and  looking 
moodily  into  the  feeble  blaze  ;  evidently  their 
thoughts  are  none  of  the  most  pleasant. 


Zbc  Mortbwest  /fibcunteD  ff»oUcc.    149 

'•Did  you  hear  that?"  one  of  them  asks 
suddenly  and  with  an  anxious  look  in  his  eyes  as 
he  suddenly  lifts  his  head,  and  looks  at  his 
comrade. 

In  the  great  stillness  of  this  lone  prairie-land 
they  could  hear  a  faint  rustling  amongst  the 
wolf-willows  up  the  little  coullee  to  their  right, 
as  if  some  wild  animal  had  been  disturbed,  and 
was  scurrying  away  through  the  undergrowth. 
Then  the  piercing,  plaintive  cry  of  a  curlew 
rose  as  if  in  alarm  upon  the  still  air. 

"  You're  gettin'  as  narvous  as  a  derned  old 
woman ! "  answered  his  amiable  comrade, 
snappishly.  He  was  no  other  than  the  notori- 
ous Black  Jim.  "  One  would  think  you  were 
cornered  in  some  hole  in  Montana,  and  the 
Vigilant  committee  were  close  alongside  choos- 
ing the  tree  to  string  you  up  on.  Dern  you  ! 
haven't  we  fooled  the  boys,  and  the  military 
too,  for  that  matter  of  it  ?  To-night  we'll  pass 
between  the  police  detachments.  Willow  Creek 
is  just  over  there  ;  that  derned  Scotchman  is  in 
charge,  I  guess — the  devil  take  him  !  " 

Once  more  the  notes  of  a  curlew  rose  upon 
the  hush  of  noonday. 

Suddenly  a  covey  of  prairie-chickens  rose 
right  alongside  the  undergrowth  on  the  edge  of 
the  coullee,  and  flew  in  a  straggling,  startled 
fashion  right  past  them. 

"Darn  me,  pard !  "  said  the  man  who  had 
spoken  first,  "  there's  somethin'  comin'  down 
that  coullee  sure,  or  my  name  ain't  Solomon. 


150         G^be  2>cv(rs  iPlasgrounD. 

It  may  be  a  coyote,  or  a  jack-rabbit,  or  it  may 
be  a  bar ;  but  there's  somethin',  an'  I'm  curi- 
ous ! " 

"  You  'ere  a  d — d  curious  cuss !  "  was  the 
polite  rejoinder  of  Black  Jim. 

But  Solomon,  like  his  illustrious  namesake, 
had  come  pretty  near  telling  the  truth.  There 
was  "  somethin',"  but  it  was  neither  a  "  bar," 
nor  a  jack-rabbit — not  even  a  coyote.  What- 
ever it  was,  it  threw  itself  flat  upon  its  face 
until  it  was  almost  hidden  by  overhanging 
sage-bush.  It  saw  the  desperado  pick  up  his 
rifle  from  the  ground ;  fling  it  over  his  arm,  and 
stalk  leisurely  but  watchfully  forward.  In- 
stinctively the  "  thing"  that  lay  hid  amongst  the 
long  grass  and  brush,  moved  a  brown,  sinewy 
hand  down  towards  an  old  leather  pouch, 
drew  a  revolver  from  it,  and  there  was  an  omi- 
nous "  click." 

"  Come  out,  ye  warmint,  whativer  ye  are  !  " 
And  a  lump  of  rock  came  crashing  down  peri- 
lously close  to  the  head  of  the  scout,  who  was 
the  "thing"  lying  hid  in  the  grass,  and  now 
had  over-reached  himself  for  once  in  his  life, 
and  crept  too  close  to  his  game.  But  he  only 
lay  close  as  a  jack-rabbit,  and  held  his  breath. 
Suddenly  the  brass  cartridges  on  his  belt 
gleamed  in  the  sunlight,  and  in  another  second 
the  desperado  had  seen  him.  His  first  impulse 
was  to  serve  him  just  as  he  would  serve  a  jack- 
rabbit  ;  but  there  might  be  more  of  them  hid- 
den in  the  undergrowth,  and  he  might  get 
served  in  the  same  way,  so  he  simply  yelled — 


^be  flortbwest  /llbounteD  ipolice.    151 

"  Put  up  yer  hands  !  "  and  covered  him  with 
his  rifle. 

"Ping!"  was  the  reply;  and  dropping  his 
rifle  with  a  yell  of  rage  and  pain,  the  desperado, 
forgetful  of  the  danger  he  was  running  in  ex- 
posing himself  for  the  moment  to  the  fire  of  his 
opponent,  shook  a  few  drops  of  blood  from  the 
fingers  of  his  left  hand.  But,  before  he  could 
pick  up  his  rifle  again,  the  breed  had  bolted 
like  a  rabbit  back  into  the  undergrowth,  and  a 
bullet  shaved  a  lock  of  hair  from  his  left  temple, 
as  neatly  as  if  it  had  been  done  by  a  razor. 

"  The  devil !  "  exclaimed  Black  Jim's  worthy 
mate  as  he  got  behind  a  rock. 

In  another  minute  he  was  joined  by  his  illus- 
trious compeer,  who  had  sprung  to  his  feet  and 
grabbed  his  rifle  when  he  had  heard  his  mate's 
voice.  He  also  thought  it  the  better  part  of 
valor  to  keep  a  foot  or  two  of  solid  rock  be- 
tween him  and  the  scrub. 

"  It's  a  darned  police  scout,  I'll  be  bound  !  " 
he  exclaimed.  "  Wonder  if  he's  alone  ?  If  so, 
we'll  fill  him  with  lead,  and  cut  his  throat  from 
ear  to  ear ! ''  He  positively  ground  his  teeth 
with  rage.  "  Let's  burn  him  out.  You  take 
one  side,  and  I'll  take  the  other ;  we'll  soon  fix 
him.  Hilloa  !  what  the  blazes  is  that  ?  A  shod 
horse,  as  I'm  a  living  sinner  !  " 

And  they  looked  the  very  princes  of  sinners 
as  they  stood  there.  They  put  one  in  mind  of 
a  couple  of  cornered  jackals  ;  their  eyes  simply 
glaring    with    mortification    and    rage.     Then 


152  tibe  Devil's  fMaggrounJ). 

sharply  and  clearly  there  rang  out  the  ominous 
words — 

"  Haiids  up  ;  we  ve  got  the  drop  on  you  this 
time!"  and  three  deadly-looking  rifle  barrels 
were  levelled  straight  down  upon  them. 

"  The  devil  you  have !  Take  that,  you 
demned  redcoats ! "  For  quick  as  thought, 
and  with  that  marvelous  celerity — that  instinct- 
ive sympathy  between  hand  and  eye  which 
characterizes  the  movements  of  gentlemen  of 
fortune  in  the  far  West,  Black  Jim  had  sent  a 
bullet  through  Dick's  shirt,  which,  like  a  sharp 
stroke  from  a  razor,  grazed  his  right  breast, 
without,  however,  doing  any  harm  save  break- 
ing the  skin.  Luckily,  however,  for  the  non- 
com.,  and  before  Black  Jim  fell  shot  through 
the  shoulder,  a  bullet,  which  might  have  found 
a  different  billet,  glanced  harmlessly  off  the 
great  brass  buckle  on  his  cartridge  belt,  and 
embedded  itself  in  the  mossy  bank  behind 
them. 

"  Now,  then,  put  your  hands  up  ! "  yelled 
the  non-com.  to  Jim's  worthy  mate  (he  wanted 
to  take  one  ahve,  if  he  could  not  take  both) ; 
but  that  gentleman  had  already  thrown  down 
his  rifle,  and  jerked  his  bleeding  hands  high 
into  the  air. 

"  Darn  you,  you  cur  !  "  hissed  the  fallen  des- 
perado to  his  comrade,  "  if  I  could  handle  my 
gun  I'd  pump  some  lead  into  you ! "  and 
promptly  fainted  away. 

"  Cover  him  with  your  guns,  boys,  while  I 


tTbe  IRortbwcst  /BbounteD  police.    153 

put  the  bracelets  on  him,"  cried  the  non-com. 
"  Blow  him  to  h —  if  he  moves,"  and  sliding 
down  the  bank  he  produced  the  bands  of 
polished  steel.  "  Now,  my  hearty — the  other 
hand  first,  if  you  please.  You've  got  to  behave 
yourself ;  no  monkey  tricks,  or  you'll  be  in 
Kingdom-come  in  two  shakes  of  a  lamb's  tail. 
Steady  ! " 

Crir-rr-click-click — and  in  another  minute, 
like  Eugene  Aram,  the  "  gyves  were  upon  his 
wrists." 

"  Some  more  water,  boys — dash  it  on  his  face. 
Prop  the  poor  devil  up.  I'm  afraid  he'll  cheat 
the  hangman  after  all.  Perhaps,  now,  and  it 
opens  up  a  strange  vein  of  speculation  :  as  an 
act  of  Christian  charity  would  I  not  be  doing 
my  duty  in  letting  him  die  }  But,  again,  justice 
and  the  law  demand  that  his  body  be  '  delivered 
up ' :  an  eye  for  an  eye,  and  a  life  for  a  life. 
And  I  am  a  servant  of  the  law." 

He  was  a  cool  hand,  truly,  this  soldierly- 
looking  trooper,  who  could  calmly  philosophize 
while  his  hands  were  still  literally  covered  with 
blood.  But  for  all  that,  he  held  the  head  of 
Black  Jim  as  tenderly  as  any  woman  would 
have  done,  and  did  everything  that  lay  in  his 
power  to  render  easy  the  position  of  the 
wounded  man. 

"  He'll  pull  through  all  right — collar  bone  in- 
jured. It's  Black  Jim  himself.  Take  their 
guns,  Pearson ;  take  out  the  cartridges  and  un- 


154         ^be  Devil's  IMa^grounD. 

screw  the  locks  for  fear  of  accidents  :  I'll  search 
the  prisoners.  You,  Louey,  round-up  the 
horses  ;  take  the  best  one  and  ride  to  Willow 
Creek  as  fast  as  you  can,  and  tell  them  to  fetch 
the  light  spring-wagon  and  some  buffalo  robes. 
Tell  them  to  send  into  Maple  Creek  for  Dr. 

H .     And  you,  sir,  you  need  stop  no  longer 

here.  Thanks  for  your  help.  You're  the 
coolest  hand  I  was  ever  out  with — a  good  shot 
that  of  yours.  Apologize  for  me  to  the  ladies. 
If  you  find  any  of  your  horses  in  the  mob,  take 
them  now.     I'll  see  you  again.     Good-bye." 

Dick  could  do  no  good  in  waiting  longer. 
He  found  a  couple  of  ranche  horses  in  the  mob, 
and  drove  them  in  front  of  him.  In  a  few 
minutes  more,  Dick  had  rejoined  the  party  he 
had  left  about  an  hour  before. 

They  looked  at  him  strangely  for  a  second  or 
two,  and  no  one  spoke.  At  last  Miss  Dalton 
said — 

"  What  is  the  matter  with  your  shirt,  Mr. 
Travers  .-' — Why,  it's " 

She  did  not  finish  her  sentence,  but  looked  at 
the  red  streak  with  a  spell-bound,  horror-stricken 
gaze.  Mrs.  Tredennis,  whose  face  had  grown 
ashy  pale  as  she  came  towards  him,  caught  him 
quickly  by  the  arm.  "  Oh,  Dick,  you  are  hurt. 
I  know  your  way  of  making  light  of  things. 
Let  me  do  something  for  you." 

"  Nonsense,''  and  with  a  firm  but  gentle  hand 
he  disengaged  his  arm  and  whispered  some- 
thing in  her  ear  :     "  It  is  only  the  merest  scratch 


^be  IRortbwest  /IRounteD  police,    iss 

—hardly  skin  deep.  Let  us  go  back  to  the 
ranche.  I  must  take  these  two  horses  back ; 
the  round-up  won't  see  me  to-day.  I'll  go  on 
to-morrow." 

He  rode  back  with  them  to  the  ranche,  and 
as  they  went  he  told  them  a  much-diluted 
version  of  what  had  occurred.  It  was  a  notice- 
able fact  that  at  least  two  of  the  ladies  of  the 
party  were  strangely  silent. 

Dick  afterwards  heard  that  Black  Jim  re- 
covered from  the  efTects  of  his  shot.  He 
would,  however,  by  the  laws  of  extradition,  be 
handed  over  to  the  United  States  authorities, 
to  answer  to  a  graver  charge  when  they  had 
done  with  him  in  Canada. 

Next  morning,  and  ere  the  mist  had  lifted 
from  the  Medicine  Lodge  coullee  before  the 
rays  of  the  sun,  Dick  was  on  his  way  again  to 
join  the  round-up. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

LIKE    A    WORM    l'    THE    BUD. 

It  was  a  glorious  autumn.  The  round-up 
had  been  a  success,  and  the  stockmen  had  a 
comparatively  easy  time  of  it  after  it  was  over. 
Dick  Travers,  who  fully  intended  to  have  taken 
his  departure  from  the  ranche  when  the  pres- 
sure of  work  had  passed,  still  found  himself 
lingering  there.  He  had  once  casually  sug- 
gested his  intention  of  leaving  to  Tredennis  ; 
but  that  individual  seemed  so  genuinely  hurt 
and  surprised  at  the  proposition,  that  Travers 
had  let  the  matter  drop  for  the  time  being. 
Tredennis  probably  thought  that  Travers  found 
it  rather  dull  on  the  ranche  ;  and  as  the  latter 
had  occasionally  some  spare  time  on  his  hands, 
the  goodness  of  the  rancher's  nature  showed 
itself.  For  whenever  Mrs.  Tredennis  or  the 
girls  made  an  excursion  into  the  woods,  or 
wished  to  explore  some  of  the  dark,  pine-clad 
coullees,  he  would  make  some  excuse  and  send 
Travers  or  Jack  Holmes  instead.  Cousin  Ned, 
who  was  an  enthusiastic  shot,  as  well  as  a  good 
one,  wandered  about  gun  in  hand  from  morn- 
ing till  night,   bagging  innumerable  braces  of 


Xlfte  a  Worm  1'  tbe  3BuO.         157 

ducks  and  prairie-chicken.  Mrs.  Tredennis 
painted  harder  than  ever,  and  her  work,  as  if 
the  spirit  of  these  old-world,  pine-clad  crags 
had  infected  her,  became,  if  anything,  more 
striking  and  weirder  in  its  conception  than  ever ; 
her  landscapes  haunted  one  with  a  sense  of 
loneliness  and  desolation.  But  she  herself 
Seemed  to  be  a  living  protest  to  her  work.  She 
was  the  life  and  soul  of  the  party.  It  was  she 
who  organized  all  the  pleasant  little  excursions. 
It  was  she  who  sent  for  the  lawn-tennis 
paraphernalia  to  Winnipeg;  and  though  she 
did  not  play  herself,  would  send  over  for 
Travers  or  Holmes,  and  while  they  and  the 
girls  played,  she  seemed  to  derive  as  much 
pleasure  from  the  game  by  looking  on.  Per- 
haps on  these  occasions  Cousin  Ned  would  fall 
asleep  at  her  feet,  with  a  cigar  in  his  mouth, 
tired  out  with  the  day's  exertions.  Tredennis 
himself  seldom  showed  up  at  such  times.  But 
often  when  Travers  went  away  south  on  the 
prairie,  to  look  after  some  stray  cattle  or  horses, 
he  would  take  his  Winchester  and  accompany 
him  ;  and  it  was  seldom  he  went  home  without 
taking  either  an  antelope  or  black-tailed  deer 
with  him.  As  for  Jack  Holmes,  he  began  to  be 
remarkably  fastidious,  just  about  this  time,  con- 
cerning his  dress.  He  discarded  the  cheap, 
ready-made  high-lows  he  had  worn  when  he 
first  came  to  the  ranche,  and  had  sent  his 
measure  into  the  nearest  town  for  the  best  pair 
of  pointed  boots  that  the  worthy  cobbler  there 


is8         ^be  WcviVe  ipla^grounD. 

could  furnish  him  with.  He  even  discarded 
the  fringed  and  beaded  buckskin  shirt  he  had 
at  first  affected,  and  into  the  buying  of  which 
he  had  been  promptly  swindled  by  Billie,  and 
wore  a  "  Crimean "  instead,  of  the  most  ap- 
proved texture  and  pattern.  Perhaps  the 
younger  of  the  two'Dalton  girls  could  have  told 
how  it  was  that  the  Sage,  about  this  time,  in- 
stead of  discussing  social  problems  and  ex- 
patiating upon  things  in  general,  to  the  edifica- 
tion and  amusement  of  his  audience,  as  was  his 
wont,  became  unaccountably  quiet  and  stupid, 
and  behaved  in  a  more  or  less  idiotic  fashion, 
for  one  of  his  otherwise  eminently  practical  turn 
of  mind.  As  for  Dick,  there  came  a  subtle 
change  over  him,  his  manner  became  pre- 
occupied, and  sometimes  he  surprised  his  com- 
rades not  a  little  when  they  chanced  to  accom- 
pany him  on  his  long  rides,  by  the  taciturn  or 
cynical  air  he  would  suddenly  adopt,  when  there 
was  really  no  occasion  in  the  world  that  he 
should  do  so.  But  when  evening  came,  his  de- 
meanor would  undergo  another  change,  and  he 
would  find  his  way  over  to  the  rancher's  house, 
when,  if  he  did  not  play  tennis — which  he  had 
somewhat  given  up  of  late — he  might  be  found 
sitting  at  the  feet  of  Mrs.  Tredennis,  who 
seemed  to  find  in  him  a  congenial  companion. 
When  these  evenings  were  over,  the  Sao-e 
noticed,  that  if  he  did  not  go  out  for  a  long 
walk  by  himself  before  retiring,  he  would  sit  in 
the   men's   quarters   in  the   dark,  and   neither 


%iWc  a  Worm  t'  tbc  38uD.         159 

spoke  nor  seemed  to  care  for  the  companion- 
ship of  any  one. 

On  one  of  these  occasions,  when  Reynolds 
and  Billie  had  retired  to  rest,  and  Holmes  lay 
awake  in  his  berth,  watching  the  lonely  figure 
of  his  comrade  as  he  sat  silently  in  the  dusk, 
looking  out  upon  the  night,  he  saw  him  start 
up  suddenly  and  pace  the  room  excitedly  but 
noiselessly.  "What  is  up,  I  wonder,  now?  " 
said  the  Sage  to  himself.  Sometimes  he  no- 
ticed that  Travers  would  pause  in  his  walk, 
and  talk  under  his  breath.  He  was  exercised 
over  something :  that  something,  the  Sage 
knew  had  been  exercising  him  a  good  deal  of 
late.  The  Sage  was  about  to  doze  off  again, 
with  a  confused  idea  that  he  was  somehow  or 
other  lost  in  a  dark  wood,  and  was  watching 
the  shadow  of  a  great  pine-tree,  when  suddenly 
the  pine-tree  took  human  shape  and  began  mut- 
tering to  itself.  In  an  instant  he  was  wide 
awake,  and  his  senses  were  abnormally  acute. 
Listen,  he  had  to  ;  there  was  no  help  for  it. 

"The  end  cannot  be  far  off,"  was  what  Tra- 
vers said,  as  if  speaking  to  some  one,  "  for  you 
are  drawing  me  towards  you  again,  as  you 
drew  me  before — and  I  am  worse  than  mad. 
There's  a  black  night  coming  for  you  and  me, 
Chrissie  ;  this  cannot  go  on  for  ever  !  " 

Holmes  held  his  breath,  and  a  sickening  light 
dawned  upon  him  :  but  there  was  something 
beyond  it  all  that  he  could  not  fathom.  Dick 
had  now  stopped  in  his  walk,  and  partially  un- 


i6o  Zbc  S)ev(rs  BMa^gvounD, 

dressing,  threw  himself  on  his  bed,  where 
Holmes,  from  whom  all  sleep  was  banished 
now,  heard  him  turn  restlessly  again  and  again, 
from  one  side  to  another,  until  the  grey  dawn 
broke. 

It  was  late  in  the  fall  now,  perhaps  a  little 
too  late  to  make  an  excursion  of  the  kind,  but 
it  was  to  be  their  last  grand  trip  preparatory  to 
the  little  party  breaking  up,  and  taking  their 
way  eastward,  and  the  preparations  for  the 
same  were  complete  and  extensive.  The 
nights  were  cold  enough  to  warrant  a  fire,  and 
the  hectic  Indian  summer  had  run  perilously 
far  into  what  in  England  would  be  considered 
a  winter  month  ;  but  the  days  were  bright  and 
pleasant.  It  was  the  beau-ideal  time  for  hunt- 
ing— only  a  fall,  a  very  slight  fall  of  snow, 
could  improve  matters  in  this  respect — and  the 
antelope,  the  black-tail,  'and  the  bear,  seemed 
plentiful.  Tredennis  with  characteristic  self- 
ishness, or  thoughtlessness,  wherever  sport  was 
concerned,  had  put  off  this  excursion  from  day 
to  day,  to  ensure  the  better  sport.  He  was 
now  so  engrossed  with  his  guns  and  filling 
cartridges,  that  he  had  little  time  to  attend  to 
the  other  preparations. 

He  had  simply  told  Travers,  to  make  out  a 
list  of  what  he  would  require,  and  given  him 
carte-blanche  to  get  the  same. 

"  We'll  take  along  Reynolds  and  Holmes," 
he  said,  "  they  can  drive  a  team  ;  of  course 
Briggs  will  come  and  do  the  cooking.     Your- 


%i\{c  a  "maovm  i'  tbc  3BuO.         i6i 

self,  Ned,  and  I  can  make  ourselves  generally 
useful,  I'll  lend  you  a  rifle  ;  but  I  should  like 
if  you  would  also  manage  to  give  the  ladies  a 
little  of  your  company  now  and  again  ;  social 
intercourse  seems  to  be  a  necessity  of  their  ex- 
istence." 

But  MacMillan  viewed  all  these  preparations 
with  a  very  sober  face  ;  his  practical  Scotch 
temperament  weighed  certain  contingencies 
which  the  others  did  not  dream  of. 

"  It's  late  in  the  fall,"  he  said,  "  and  none  of 
you  knows  how  suddenly  changes  come  on  in 
this  country.  Why,  to-day  it  may  be  like  a  day 
in  June,  and  to-morrow,  without  any  warning 
whatever,  a  blizzard  (he  called  it  a  '  bleezard  ') 
comes  on,  that  may  last  for  days,  freezing  every 
living  thing  that  is  caught  in  it.  Whatever  you 
do,  take  extra  socks  and  moccasins  with  you, 
mitts,  and  your  heavy  fur  coats.  Goodness 
knows,  you  may  require  them." 

Travers  knew  only  too  well  the  truth  of  what 
the  Scotsman  said ;  but  the  others  merely 
laughed.  They  were  accustomed  to  the  provisos 
of  the  farseeing  Scot. 

Holmes  was  delighted  with  the  prospects  of 
the  excursion ;  more  particularly  as  a  certain 
young  lady  was  to  ride  beside  him  on  the  front 
seat  of  the  light  spring-wagon.  But  Dick 
Travers  seemed  anything  but  delighted  with 
the  prospects  of  the  trip.  He  had  spoken  to 
Tredennis,  and  tried  to  persuade  that  individual 
to  take   MacMillan  or  Billie,   instead ;  but    he 


i62         XTbe  Devil's  iPlaggrounD»  f 

would  not  listen  to  this  proposition,  Tredennis, 
indeed,  felt  somewhat  sore  about  his  evident 
reluctance  to  accompany  the  party,  and  men- 
tioned the  subject  to  his  wife,  with  a  vague 
idea  that  she  might  throw  some  light  upon  the 
subject, 

"  I  thought  he  would  only  have  been  too 
glad  to  come,"  he  had  said.  "  I'm  not  so  badly 
off  that  I  need  treat  Travers  and  Holmes  like 
two  ordinary  employees.  They  have  earned  a 
good  holiday  :  to  tell  the  truth,  I  am  only  too 
glad  to  get  fellows  like  them  that  we  can  asso- 
ciate with,  instead  of  having  to  take  men  of 
Billie's  stamp,  who  would  scare  us  every  time 
they  opened  their  mouths.  I  wonder  what  the 
matter  can  be  with  Travers.^  " 

She  was  sitting  looking  out  upon  the  now 
grey  prairie  with  the  significant  streak  of  black- 
ness in  the  background — the  effects  of  the  fire 
—and  had  been  reading  "  Ships  that  Pass  in  the 
Night."  But  when  her  husband  spoke  she  had 
suddenly  stopped  reading,  and  held  the  book  as 
before,  but  so  as  to  look  over  the  top  of  it.  A 
slight  heightening  of  color  had  at  first  crept 
into  her  cheeks  ;  then  as  suddenly  there  was  a 
slight  contraction  of  her  arched  eyebrows  ;  she 
became  strangely  pale,  and  there  was  a  strange 
fixedness  in  her  gaze.  But  her  husband  saw 
none  of  these  changes.  To  tell  the  truth,  he 
might  have  seen,  and  never  have  given  them  a 
thought.  When  she  spoke  it  was  evident  there 
was  a  shade  of  irritation  in  her  voice,  though 
she  tried  to  speak  unconcernedly. 


%i\{c  a  morm  i'  tbe  :SQ\x^.        163 

"  I  somehow  think,"  she  answered,  "  that 
your  friend  is  somewhat  difficult  to  please. 
Why  not  let  him  stop  at  the  ranche  ?  I  am  sure 
we  could  get  on  well  without  him.  It  appears 
to  me  that  he  doesn't  know  his  own  mind  two 
minutes  at  a  stretch." 

There  was  the  same  intensity  in  her  gaze, 
and  she  did  not  move,  though  her  breath  came 
more  quickly,  and  her  bosom  heaved  strangely. 
There  was  even  a  touch  of  pique  in  her  voice — 
more  than  the  occasion  would  seem  to  call  for. 
Tom  looked  up  quickly  and  spoke — 

"  I  think,  Chrissie,  you're  rather  hard  upon 
poor  Travers — I  really  don't  think  you  do  him 
justice.  I  noticed  that  when  you  saw  him  for 
the  first  time,  you  did  not  seem  to  take  to  him 
— you  took  to  the  other  chap  ;  but  Travers  is 
worth  a  dozen  of  such  men  as  Holmes.  I 
Vi^ouldn't  wonder  if  the  poor  fellow  has  made  a 
mess  of  his  life  at  one  time  or  another,  and 
sometimes  feels  a  little  hipped  about  it.  Any- 
how, MacMillan  says  he  has  done  the  work  of 
three  men  since  he  has  been  here,  and  I'm  go- 
ing to  take  him  with  us  in  spite  of  himself. 
Amy  and  Kate  should  rouse  him  up ;  but  for 
my  sake  be  civil  to  him,  if  not  for  his  own !  " 

He  rose  and  went  away  without  waiting  for 
her  to  comment  upon  this  speech,  and  without 
even  looking  at  her. 

When  he  had  gone,  she  rose  quickly  from 
her  seat  and  looked  strangely  around  her.  She 
clasped  her  hands   behind  her  head,  and  "-here 


i64  ^be  Bevil's  IPlaggrounD. 

was  a  look  of  hopeless  misery  in  her  eyes. 
Then  she  broke  into  a  laugh  that  was  piteous 
in  its  very  bitterness,  and  cried — 

"  For  your  sake  indeed  !  "  and  then  she 
paused  a  minute.  "  But  oh  !  Dick,  what  about 
yours.-*"  she  added  passionately,  and  hurried 
from  the  room. 

She  entered  her  bedroom,  and  locking  the 
door,  threw  herself  upon  a  couch,  and  cried  as 
if  her  heart  would  break. 

Is,  or  is  not  a  woman's  mind  a  complex 
thing  ? 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THAT   LAND   WHERE  NOBODY   LIVES. 

The  party  was  off  at  last,  and  to  say  the 
least  of  it,  it  was  a  merry  one.  The  morning 
was  clear  and  frosty — one  of  those  glorious 
days  one  only  finds  late  in  the  fall,  the  nearer 
one  gets  to  the  Rockies  ;  or  on  a  winter's  morn- 
ing on  the  Blue  Mountains  in  New  South  Wales 
(how  one's  heart  goes  out  to  those  beautiful 
Blue  Mountains !). 

The  ladies  had  on  warm  and  smart  Tweed 
dresses.  Jack  Holmes  looked  at  least  three 
inches  taller  as  he  sat  on  the  high  spring- 
wagon,  talking  to  a  fair-haired  young  lady  who 
sat  beside  him.  Mrs.  Tredennis  and  the  elder 
of  the  two  Dalton  girls  rode  under  the  rather 
dubious  protection  of  Cousin  Ned.  Tredennis 
and  Travers  rode  on  ahead  as  a  sort  of  ad- 
vanced guard  and  pilotage  for  the  two  wagons  ; 
one  of  which  Reynolds  drove,  and  which  con- 
tained the  important  Briggs  and  the  camping- 
out  paraphernalia.  Away  they  went  over  the 
withered  grass,  and  pursuing  no  trail ;  for  in- 
deed in  No-Man's  Land,  into  which  they  were 
about  to  enter,  there  were  no  trails.     In  the  old 


i66         ^be  "BeviVe  BMa^grounD. 

days,  doubtless,  this  wild  part  of  the  country 
could  tell  of  many  a  bloody  tale  of  Indian  war- 
fare, stranger  than  fiction  generally  furnishes 
us  with.  But  now  this  land  lay  silent  and 
lonely  :  in  its  very  sense  of  the  limitless  it  was 
pathetic.  What  a  great  power  this  civilization 
of  ours  must  have^been  to  subdue  and  rob  this 
"  Great  American  Desert  "  of  its  natural  deni- 
zens, and  change  the  natural  order  of  things, 
until  all  that  is  left  to  give  these  prairies  a  fit- 
ting life  is  a  few  broken  bands  of  predatory  In- 
dians, and  a  few  head  of  antelope.  But  this  is, 
comparatively  speaking,  one  of  the  wild,  un- 
known spots,  and  to  a  certain  extent  the  home 
of  primitive  Nature ;  and  there  is  always  a 
charm  about  that  which  has  a  sense  of  wildness, 
and  where  human  life  is  not. 

Away  they  rattle ;  now,  down  the  steep 
banks  of  some  coullee  ;  then,  toiling  up  the  op- 
posite bank  ;  again,  bowling  along  over  a  lawn- 
like stretch  of  prairie ;  but  ever  with  a  sharp 
look-out  for  badger-holes  and  such  like  dan- 
gers. 

At  noon  they  drive  into  Many  Berries  Creek, 
and  down  a  steep  incline  into  a  thick  clump  of 
cotton-wood  trees  and  bastard-maple.  Then 
what  a  merry  time  of  it  they  had  to  be  sure, 
when  the  horses  had  been  picketed  out,  and 
they  set  about  getting  the  lunch  ready.  It  per- 
haps did  not  matter  a  great  deal  after  all,  if 
Jack  Holmes  and  a  certain  young  lady  did  keep 
them  waiting  some  considerable  time  for  a  ket- 


C^bat  XanD  wbere  IRoboDs  %ivcs,    167 

tleful  of  water — it  was  a  joint-stock  affair — for 
time  was  not  so  remarkably  precious  just  then. 
True,  it  might  have  mattered  had  they  both 
been  drowned  (and  such  a  catastrophe  was  very 
nearly  happening).  For  when  they  went  down 
to  dip  the  kettle  they  both  kept  a  firm  hold  of 
it,  and  the  result  was  that  they  each  took  a  step 
into  the  shelving  pool,  but  arrested  further 
progress  just  in  time.  Then,  on  going  up  the 
bank,  they  spilt  that  kettle  of  water  between 
them,  and  had  to  go  down  again  to  the  pool  to 
repeat  their  innocent  little  comedy.  True  to 
the  old  adage  that  too  many  cooks  spoil  the 
broth,  when  they  all  tried  to  be  of  some  assist- 
ance in  getting  lunch  ready,  the  result  was  a 
most  delightful  confusion.  Perhaps  the  one 
who  contributed  most  to  this  state  of  affairs 
was  Cousin  Ned,  who  kept  continually  getting 
in  every  one's  jway,  and  shifting  things  about 
after  they  were  put  in  proper  order,  under  the 
delusion  that  he  was  rendering  invaluable  as- 
sistance. In  fact,  when  the  kettle  had  boiled, 
the  watchful  Briggs  stopped  him  in  the  act  of 
putting  a  large  handful  of  salt  into  it,  under  the 
impression  that  it  was  sugar,  and  that  he  was 
about  to  sweeten  the  tea.  After  this,  Briggs 
kept  one  eye  on  the  provisions  and  another  on 
Mr.  Terry,  who,  somewhat  over-awed  by  the 
air  of  importance  and  mystery  that  Briggs  as- 
sumed for  the  occasion,  took  a  back  seat  for 
some  little  time.  But  a  little  later,  to  keep  up 
the    delusion    of   his   usefulness,   he   blunted  a 


i68  Zbc  DevU'e  BMa^grounD. 

carving-knife  in  attempting  to  open  a  can  of 
tomatoes  with  it.  Tlien  tiie  lynx-eyed  Briggs 
offered  him  a  can-opener,  and  it  was  the  great- 
est blow  of  all  to  him  ;  for  Ned  never  having 
seen  or  heard  of  such  a  thing  in  his  life  before, 
stared  at  it  with  a  stony  irrecognition.  This 
was  indeed  a  triumph  to  Briggs. 

Mrs.  Tredennis  for  a  few  days  before  the  start 
did  not  seem  to  be  in  the  best  of  spirits.  It 
was  noticed  that  she  was  rather  pale  and  had  a 
listless  air ;  and  then  a  sudden  change  came 
over  her.  At  first  her  manner  towards  Travers, 
when  he  had  found  it  positively  necessary  to 
talk  to  her,  had  been  of  a  frank  and  kindly  char- 
acter ;  she  asked  his  advice  in  regard  to  certain 
preparations,  and  acted  upon  his  suggestions. 
And  then  her  manner  suddenly  changed;  for 
while  she  did  not  actually  seem  to  avoid  him, 
there  was  a  trace  of  petulance  in  her  manner 
that  accorded  but  strangely  with  one  of  her 
even  temperament.  Dick  thought  he  must 
have  done  something  that  had  given  her 
offence  ;  for  her  bearing  towards  him  was  that 
of  one  who  has  suffered  some  slight  and  strives 
to  conceal  it,  but  cannot.  But  on  this  particu- 
lar day  nothing  but  good-will  and  harmony 
prevailed.  Their  appetites  were  sharpened  by 
the  ride  and  the  keen  prairie  air,  and  they  made 
a  hearty  meal.  Then,  after  the  men  had 
assisted  in  clearing  away,  and  Cousin  Ned  suc- 
ceeded in  breaking  a  couple  of  plates  (still 
under  the  delusion  that  he  was  rendering  inval- 


^bat  XanO  wberc  IWobo&s  %ivc3,    169 

uable  assistance),  the  men  fed  their  horses — 
they  were  cool  now — and  had  a  smoke.  Then 
stow  away  and  hitch  up  again,  and  away  over 
the  rolling  prairie. 

And  now  the  scenery  became  of  a  more 
broken  and  wilder  character,  and  there  were 
striking  patches  of  what  was  known  as  "  Bad 
Lands."  That  is,  small  strips  of  country  on 
which  nothing  grew,  and  from  which  rose  great 
cone-like  mounds  of  mud  or  sand,  which 
sparkled  with  a  mica-like  substance. 

When  Tredennis  had  been  riding  on  ahead 
with  Dick,  they  had  come  right  on  to  a  band  of 
antelope  ;  for  a  second  the  timid,  startled  crea- 
tures stood  stock  still  with  craned  necks ;  one 
of  them  even  took  a  few  steps  forward  :  for  the 
antelope  is  an  inquisitive  animal,  and  his  curi- 
osity often  costs  him  dearly.  Quick  as  thought, 
Tredennis  lifted  his  rifle  from  across  the  horn 
of  his  saddle  on  which  it  rested,  and  aimed  at 
the  foremost  animal— ping !  went  his  rifle,  and 
in  another  second  it  dropped  like  a  stone. 

"  Antelope  steak  for  supper,"  he  cried,  as  he 
jumped  down  and  bled  it. 

Towards  evening  they  pulled  down  into  a 
beautifully  wooded  coullee,  and  selecting  a 
shady,  sheltered  nook,  prepared  to  camp  for  the 
night. 

Soon  the  horses  were  picketed  and  attended 
to ;  three  good-sized  tents  were  pitched ;  a 
huge  fire  was  burning  cheerily,  and  Briggs  was 
cooking  savory  venison  steaks  upon  it.     How- 


170  Zbc  Devil's  IPlaiggrounO. 

ever,  the  novelty  and  pride  of  his  position  were 
marred  by  the  vision  of  Cousin  Ned,  ransack- 
ing and  upsetting  various  articles  of  a  delicate 
and  perishable  nature  in  a  huge  wicker  basket, 
in  a  vain  attempt  to  find  some  culinary  article, 
the  nature  of  which,  and  the  purpose  for  which 
it  was  wanted,  Ned  having  promptly  forgotten 
as  soon  as  he  had  begun  his  search. 

Travers  had  gone  down  to  the  bed  of  the 
creek,  by  an  old  buffalo  pad,  to  where  there 
was  a  large  water-hole ;  and  in  the  sands  of  the 
creek  he  saw  something  that  for  the  second 
startled  him,  and  made  him  glance  sharply 
around.  It  was  the  tracks  of  a  huge  bear — 
great,  squat  tracks,  and  the  soft,  pliant  sand 
had  taken  a  true  and  distinct  impression  of  the 
foot.  It  had  evidently  been  traveling  down  the 
creek ;  but  to  tell  within  a  day  or  two  when  it 
had  gone  down,  would  have  required  an  Indian 
or  an  Australian  black-tracker  to  decide.  Tra- 
vers filled  the  water  pails  he  had  taken  down 
with  him,  and  took  them  up  again  to  the  camp ; 
he  said  nothing  to  the  others  of  what  he  had 
seen,  but  taking  Tredennis  aside,  he  told  him 
about  the  tracks.  The  upshot  of  it  was,  that 
the  latter,  arming  Reynolds  and  Dick  with  an 
express  rifle  apiece,  started  down  the  creek  on 
the  tracks  of  the  bear.  But  after  following  them 
up  on  horseback  for  a  couple  of  miles  or  so, 
they  concluded  to  turn.  At  least  there  was  no 
danger  of  Bruin  lurking  in  their  immediate  vicin- 
ity and   stampeding  their  horses.     The  ladies 


XLb^t  XanD  wbcrc  1floboDi5  Hives.    171 

were  shown  the  tracks  of  the  "  real,  live  bear  "; 
and  Cousin  Ned,  having  been  assured  that  it 
was  all  nonsense  about  the  inconvenient  habits 
bears  have  of  prowling  round  at  midnight  with 
criminal  intent,  entering  tents  they  have  no 
business  to,  and  pulling  the  clothes  off  the 
sleepers,  they  sat  down  to  supper. 

It  was  one  of  the  pleasantest  of  meals  ;  they 
all  sat  around  on  the  ground  just  as  they 
pleased.  There  was  no  sitting  below  the  salt. 
Reynolds,  the  silent,  with  his  quiet,  dry  humor, 
was  taken  in  hand  by  the  elder  of  the  two  Dal- 
ton  girls — whom  at  first  he  had  regarded  with 
considerable  awe — and  under  her  spell  actually 
began  to  enjoy  himself.  There  were  no  mos- 
quitoes or  flies  to  annoy  them  now,  the  touch  of 
frost  in  the  evenings  had  banished  them.  And 
now  it  began  to  get  cold.  In  the  world's  eternal 
dome  the  stars  gleamed  out  clearly  and  sharply. 
They  had  donned  their  warmest  upper  garments, 
and  began  to  think  that  the  Scot  was  a  pretty 
sensible  fellow  after  all,  when  he  had  said  they 
would  require  them.  They  built  a  huge  fire  and 
sat  around  it ;  then  one  of  the  Dalton  girls  pro- 
duced a  violin  case  and  proved  herself  an  ac- 
complished musician ;  and  to  the  intense 
astonishment  of  Briggs,  Cousin  Ned  developed 
a  very  fine  tenor  voice.  Briggs  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  Providence  always  furnished  a 
man  with  some  compensating  quality,  no  matter 
what  his  defects  were.  Then  ensued  a  verita- 
ble open-air  concert.     The  fire  burned  up,  and 


172  tTbe  "BcviVs  IPlaggcounJ). 

the  shadows  under  the  great  cotton-wood  trees 
took  on  an  inky  blackness.  The  men  enjoyed 
their  pipes  as  they  seldom  did.  Then  the  elder 
of  the  two  girls  discovered  that,  as  Reynolds 
himself  admitted,  he  did  play  "  a  little  now  and 
again."     Then,  of  course,  he  must  needs  play. 

He  modestly  took  the  violin,  and,  lo !  they  ex- 
perienced a  revelation  ;  it  was  the  picturesque 
element  of  old  Canada. 

Now  it  was  some  voyageur's  song,  sung  by 
some  musical  French  Canadian  as  he  sat  in  the 
bow  of  a  birch  canoe,  paddle  in  hand,  and 
watched  with  a  keen^  unwavering  eye  the  ap- 
proaching rapids.  And  then  there  came  a 
change.  Surely  it  was  a  trapper's  or  a  lumberer's 
camp  in  the  dark  pine  woods.  How  the  bright, 
ruddy  light  from  the  open  shanty  r.'indows 
gleamed  out  upon  the  dark  night  and  across  the 
winter's  snow,  until  it  sparkled  like  a  sheet  of 
silver.  And  look,  and  listen  I  There  is  a 
motley  crew  inside,  mostly  dark-haired  and 
dark-eyed.  Perhaps  there  is  among  them  a 
hint  of  Indian  blood.  Some  are  volatile  and 
excitable,  hinting  at  a  Gallic  origin.  Some  wear 
great  red  stockings  reaching  over  the  knees, 
and  buckskin  shirts  covered  with  a  mosaic  of 
gaudy  bead-work,  and  with  heavy  drooping 
fringes.  They  are  dancing  some  infectious  fan- 
tasia. Now  it  is  the  Red  River  jig.  How  they 
abandon  themselves  to  it,  and  how  their  feet 
twinkle  !  Now  it  is  that  indescribable  musical 
joke  without  beginning  or  ending — the  Arkan- 


?rbat  XanD  wbcre  IfloboDs  %ivc3,    173 

sas  Traveler — with  its  catching,  foot-stirring  mel- 
ody. There  is  an  air  of  abandon,  barbarism  and 
freedom, permeated  with  a  picturesqueness  about 
the  whole  scene,  that  is  positively  fascinating. 

The  music  stops,  and  the   picture   vanishes. 

It  was  Mrs.  Tredennis  who  first  broke  the 
silence.  Strangely  enough,  she  spoke  of  some- 
thing that  had  just  been  running  in  the  minds 
of  the  others. 

But,  perhaps  after  all,  that  is  not  strange 
which  is  always  happening. 

"  Tom,"  she  said  to  her  husband,  "  we  must 
not  go  back  to  England,  without  getting  a 
glimpse  of  picturesque  Canada.  The  prairies 
are  all  very  well,  but  we  must  see  a  trader's  post 
and  a  lumberer's  camp." 

Then  there  was  another  interruption,  some- 
thing very  like  the  angr}'  snarl  of  a  wild  animal 
rose  in  the  stillness  that  ensued  after  Mrs.  Tre- 
dennis's  speech.  What  about  that  bear  whose 
tracks  they  had  seen  going  down  the  creek  ? 
Briggs,  who  had  been  lying  somewhat  outside 
the  circle,  jumped  in  alarm  to  his  feet,  and 
with  an  exclamation  of  fear. 

But  it  was  only  his  deU  noir.  Cousin  Ned, 
who  had  fallen  asleep  ;  and  with  his  head  hang- 
ing backwards  over  a  log,  seemed  to  be  invit- 
ing death  by  strangulation. 

"  Some  one  put  the  poor  boy  to  bed,"  said 
Mrs.  Tredennis,  with  a  mock  air  of  tenderness 
in  her  voice,  and  the  innate  love  of  fun  betray- 
ing itself  in  her  speech. 


174         ^be  IDevlVs  iPIa^grounD. 

No  sooner  said  than  done.  Tredennis  and 
Dick  seized  the  little  man  by  the  head  and  heels, 
and  carried  him,  remonstrating  and  struggling, 
to  the  tent,  where  they  deposited  him  on  his 
roll  of  bedding,  amid  the  laughter  and  "  good- 
nights  "  of  the  rest  of  the  party. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

WHERE  THE  DEVIL   AMUSES   HIMSELF. 

They  camped  in  that  sheltered  nook  for  a 
couple  of  days.  Tredennis,  and  Cousin  Ned 
getting  some  good  shooting,  and  the  ladies 
never  seeming  tired  of  exploring  the  cavern-like 
recesses  of  the  creek  bottom  under  the  over- 
hanging cut-banks,  roofed  in  with  the  dense 
tangle  of  boughs  and  creepers.  They  had  dis- 
covered an  Indian  grave  ;  and  in  a  coullee  away 
out  on  the  open  prairie  between  two  creeks — 
which  explained  why  it  had  escaped  the  prairie 
fires — they  came  upon  a  striking  memento  of 
the  Wild  West, 

There  stood  the  wreck  of  a  wagon  from 
which  two  of  the  wheels  had  dropped,  and 
tilted  in  air.  It  was  the  very  scare-crow  of 
a  wagon  ;  for  its  loosened  boards,  which  were 
bleached  to  a  ding^  brown,  flapped  eerily  in  the 
wind,  and  they  were  literally  riddled  with 
bullets.  The  tragic  tale  pertaining  to  it  was 
plain  as  an  open  book.  For  near  it  lay  a 
couple  of  incomplete  skeletons,  and  the  barrel 
and  stock  of  an  old  rifle  ;  under  the  wagon  and 


176         ^be  2)evtrs  iPlassrouuD. 

around  it  were  strewed  the  empty  shells  of  car- 
tridges. 

"  Better  sit  down  a  little  way  off,  and  let  mc 
look  round,"  said  Travers,  to  Mrs.  Tredennis 
and  the  two  girls,  when  he  saw  the  ghastly  re- 
mains of  what  had  once  been  human  beings. 

They  moved  a  little  distance  off,  and  sat 
down  ;  but  still  turned  to  look  upon  the  pathetic 
sight,  as  if  fascinated  by  such  a  striking  pict- 
ure from  the  storehouse  of  the  past.  It  was  a 
strange  thing  to  think,  that  probably  the  last 
eyes  of  a  white  man  who  had  gazed  upon  the 
scene  of  this  tragedy,  had  been  the  dying  eyes 
of  these  poor  emblems  of  mortality  themselves. 
As  with  grim  determination,  not  perhaps  un- 
mixed with  a  pang  of  agony — for  life  is  sweet 
— they  "  stood  off,"  the  circling,  yelling  red 
fiends,  until  they  sank  mortally  wounded. 

Travers  looked  around  him. 

"  The  Indians,  of  course,  must  have  sur- 
rounded them  ;  "  he  said.  "  I  think  there  is  one 
spot  in  particular  where  they  must  have  got  in 
their  work." 

He  vi^ent  to  a  little  hillock,  covered  with  sage- 
bush,  about  a  hundred  yards  off.  And  behind 
it  was,  as  he  had  thought,  a  pile  of  empty  car- 
tridge shells. 

"  They  were  probably  traders,"  Dick  contin- 
ued, "  no  matter  what  they  sold — it  might  have 
been  whiskey  or  blankets,  for  all  one  can  tell — 
but  they  were  not  the  first  victims  of  those 
Indians,  who  must  have  got  their  weapons  and 


liGlbere  tbc  S>cvil  Bmuses  Iblmself.    177 

cartridges  from  somewhere  other  than  a  trad- 
ing-post. Indians  don't  generally  have  Win- 
chesters." 

"  I  should  like  to  sketch  that  wagon,"  Mrs. 
Tredennis  remarked,  looking  at  it  with  a  con- 
templative air  ;  "  there  is  such  an  air  of  sugges- 
tion about  the  whole  scene." 

Her  eyes  turned  from  it  and  met  those  of 
Dick  who  was  watching  her  curiously.  He 
had  spoken  but  little  to  her  these  last  few  days. 

"  You  seem  to  have  a  fancy  for  anything  of 
this  nature,"  he  remarked,  quietly,  with  a 
forced  calmness  in  his  voice  ;  and  as  if  what  he 
said  were  only  intended  for  her  ears.  He 
looked  into  her  eyes  as  he  continued  :  "  A 
vivisectionist  talks  of  a  '  beautiful '  operation, 
just  as  you  seem  to  enjoy  anything  that  savors 
of  a  premature  and  unnatural  death." 

One  of  the  girls  looked  up  sharply.  Was  it 
grim  humor  or  some  partially  revealed  senti- 
ment, that  this  handsome,  sad-eyed  cynic  in- 
dulged in  ?  Mrs.  Tredennis  turned  her  face 
away  from  him,  but  made  no  reply  to  this 
strange  speech,  divining  the  sentiments  that 
had  actuated  it.  But  it  was  evident  from  her 
quiet,  but  thoughtful,  demeanor  on  the  walk 
back  to  camp,  that  his  words  had  cut  her 
deeply. 

That  evening  there  was  a  cold  leaden  hue  in 
the  sky,  and  the  stars  did  not  shine  out  as 
brightly  as  usual,  which  evidently  caused  Rey- 
nolds not  a  little  uneasiness.     But  then,  as  he 


178  X^bc  WcvlVe  plaiserounD. 

remarked  to  Cousin  Ned,  when  asked  by  that 
individual  what  it  meant,  "  Not  being  a  prophet, 
he  could  not  exactly  say.  If  anything  at  all,  it 
meant  snow."  For  the  changes  in  these  lati- 
tudes are  so  sudden,  and  come  on  with  so 
little  warning,  that  it  is  impossible  even  for  an 
Indian  to  forecast  a  change  until  it  has  regu- 
larly set  in.  To  those  who  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  the  steady-going,  old-fashioned,  jog- 
trot style  of  the  British  climate,  where  one  can 
forecast  with  tolerable  accuracy  twenty-four 
hours  beforehand  what  sort  of  weather  one  is 
to  enjoy,  such  a  condition  of  things  is  difficult 
to  understand.  In  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  the 
resident  in  the  Northwest  Territories  from  the 
Old  World,  in  spite  of  many  lessons,  will  not 
understand,  and  is  caught  in  the  lurch. 

Next  morning,  in  spite  of  the  ominous  grey- 
ness  in  the  northern  sky,  the  weather  was  pleas- 
ant and  sunny  enough,  and  the  party  was 
evidently  inclined  to  chaff  Reynolds,  in  regard 
to  his  prognostications  of  the  night  before. 

"  I  am  inclined  to  think  you  are  a  Scotsman, 
and  take  after  MacMillan,"  said  Mrs.  Treden- 
nis,  merrily.  "  The  law  of  association  is  too 
strong  to  permit  of  my  enjoyment  being 
damped  by  anticipating  such  a  contingency  as 
a  snow-storm." 

"  Blizzard, "  quietly  corrected  Reynolds.  "  My 
parents  were  Scotch,  and  I  don't  want  to 
establish  a  reputation  as  a  croaker ;  but  I 
should  not  advise  you  to  go  out  riding  verj-  far, 


"^ICibere  tbe  Devil  Bmuses  Ibimself.    179 

without  strapping  on  your  great-coat  behind 
the  saddle.  I  have  seen  many  a  blizzard  long 
before  this  time  of  the  year.  I've  got  to  follow 
up  some  tracks  I  noticed  yesterday  going  east- 
ward— some  horses  we  lost  a  couple  of  months 
ago  I  wouldn't  wonder — but  I  know  I'm  not 
going  out  without  moccasins,  mitts,  and  fur  cap 
in  my  wallet." 

Tredennis  and  Cousin  Ned  had  arranged  to 
go  back  north  a  few  miles  on  foot,  to  look  for  a 
band  of  antelope  they  had  seen  on  the  previous 
day.  Mrs.  Tredennis,  taking  some  sketching 
materials  with  her,  and  the  Dalton  girls  with 
a  well-stocked  picnic-basket,  and  with  Jack 
Holmes  officiating  as  driver,  were  to  take  the 
light  spring-wagon  and  go  towards  Many 
Berries  Creek.  Briggs  was  to  remain  in  camp, 
an  arrangement  which  suited  that  gentleman 
only  too  well,  as  he  declared  in  confidence  to 
Reynolds,  that  it  took  at  least  a  couple  of  hours 
every  morning  to  straighten  up  things  in  camp, 
after  Cousin  Ned  had  been  seized  with  one  of 
his  fits  of  making  himself  "  generally  useful "' 
the  night  before.  Dick,  who  had  declined  the 
invitation  of  Tredennis  and  Cousin  Ned  to  go 
out  shooting  with  them,  was  about  to  accom- 
pany Reynolds,  and  follow  up  the  tracks  of  the 
strange  horses,  when  Tredennis  stopped  him. 

"  I  say,  Travers,  by  Jove,  you  know,  this  is 
too  bad!"  remarked  the  worthy  Tom.  "You 
can  hunt  horses  any  time.  We  came  out  for  a 
picnic  ;  let  the  horses  go.     If  you  can't  come 


i8o         tTbe  Devil's  ipla^grounD. 

out  shooting  with  Terry  and  me,  you  ought  at 
least  to  accompany  the  ladies.  Fancy  poor 
Holmes,  an  unprotected  male,  alone  with  three 
of  them  !  You  ought  to  stand  by  a  comrade' 
better  than  that.  Oblige  me,  like  a  good  fel- 
low, by  going  with  them.  I'm  always  afraid 
Mrs,  Tredennis  or  the  girls,  will  be  straying 
away  in  that  broken  country  and  losing  them- 
selves," 

"  I  believe  you're  right,"  said  Dick  ;  "  but  I 
have  such  a  poor  opinion  of  myself  in  a  social 
capacity,  that  I  always  think  I'm  better  out  of 
the  way." 

"  Nonsense,  man ;  you  make  too  little  of 
yourself.  I  know  that  Mrs.  Tredennis  for  one 
will  be  glad  to  have  you  with  her  ;  she  values 
very  highly  your  opinion  upon  art— a  thing  that 
I  know  as  much  about  as  it  knows  about  me — 
and  you  might  be  in  a  position  to  render  her 
some  assistance.     Well — until  dinner  time." 

Honest  Tom,  surely  3'ou  are  artless ;  for 
even  that  art  which  you  have  of  rendering 
others  happy,  strangers  though  they  be  to  you, 
is  no  art,  for  it  is  simply  your  natural  self — 
that  quality  which  is  superior  to  wealth  or  birth, 
and  stamps  Nature's  gentleman. 

Travers  rode  on  after  the  light  spring-wagon, 
and  was  received  with  a  running  fire  of  banter 
by  the  girls. 

"  I  knew  he  could  not  stay  away,"  said  one. 

"  I  thought  he  was  reserving  himself  as  a 
pleasant  surprise,"  said  the  other. 


TKIlbere  tbe  Devil  Bmuses  Iblmsclf.    iSi 

But  there  was  a  third,  who,  whatever  she 
may  have  thought,  betrayed  no  recognition  of 
his  presence. 

"  Let  us  go  south  instead  of  west,"  said  Mrs. 
Tredennis  at  length,  "  into  that  country  which 
must  necessarily  be  delightful,  since  they  call  it 
'The  Bad  Lands' :  there  is  indefinite  suggestion 
about  the  name.  Do  you  think  you  could  pilot 
us  there,  Mr.  Travers  .'  " 

"  I  think  I  could,  Mrs.  Tredennis,  if  you 
wouldn't  mind  being  jolted  a  little  in  the  wagon. 
I'll  go  ahead  and  pick  out  the  way.  There's  a 
queer  corner  several  miles  south  of  this  that  I 
think  would  interest  you.  '  The  Devil's  Play- 
ground,' I  call  it.  Look  out  for  the  springs  of 
the  wagon,  Jack  !  " 

Away  they  rattled  down  the  creek  until  they 
came  to  the  coullee,  which  came  in  from  the 
south  ;  they  crossed  the  creek  and  went  up  it ; 
then  for  three  or  four  miles  they  gradually  as- 
cended a  bench  or  inclined  plane.  This  was, 
comparatively  speaking,  easy  work  ;  then  the 
country  became  more  broken  again. 

Suddenly,  without  any  warning,  they  came  to 
the  brink  of  a  great  gulch,  and  a  weird  sight 
burst  upon  them.  Mrs.  Tredennis  uttered  an 
exclamation  of  delight  and  wonder,  and,  with 
parted  lips  and  sparkling  eyes,  took  in  the 
scene  with  the  appreciation  that  only  an  artistic 
temperament  can  feel.  Some  three  or  four 
hundred  feet  beneath  them,  a  great  valley 
stretched  from  east  to  west.     No   green  banks 


i82  ^be  5)cvirs  BMaisgrounD. 

or  bosky  undergrowth  fringed  its  bottom  ;  but 
great  unseemly  scarred  and  jagged  sides  of 
chocolate-colored  clay,  intersected  by  jet  black 
seams  and  yellow  and  pink,  with  here  and  there 
patches  of  alkali  showing  dazzling  white  as  the 
wintry  sun  shone  upon  it.  Huge  pillar-like 
masses  of  clay  rose  like  gigantic  mushrooms 
from  the  bed  of  the  valley  :  some  were  perfectly 
round  and  tapered  towards  their  summits, 
resembling  sugar-loaves,  so  sprinkled  were  they 
by  a  gleaming  mica-like  substance  ;  and  others 
again  were  ungainly  and  bulbous  shaped. 
Some  resembled  huge  frogs,  or  uncouth  antedi- 
luvian monsters.  The  valley,  with  its  gaudy 
coloring,  chocolate-colored  background,  and 
grey,  wintry  sky  shining  upon  it,  resembled  the 
playground  of  a  race  of  Titans,  who,  after 
modelling  all  manner  of  grotesque  and  weird 
imaginings  in  clay,  and  baking  and  painting 
them  with  the  pigments  from  the  crucible  of 
mother  Nature,  had  suddenly  deserted  it,  and 
left  their  uncouth  playthings  behind  them  to 
astonish  a  new  race  of  beings.  It  required  no 
stretch  of  imagination  to  name  these  shapes. 
There  was  a  group  of  toad-stools — gigantic 
ones  truly,  but  still  toad-stools.  And  there, 
hard  by,  was  a  wicked  and  leering  old  toad, 
green  with  age.  Here  was  a  winged  dragon  ; 
and  there  an  excrescence  resembling  some 
loathly  saurian,  with  its  mouth  all  agape,  crawl- 
ing out  of  a  slimy  pool.  There  was  an  animal 
resembling  an  elephant  or  a  dinotherium  ;  and 


TKIlbere  tbe  Devil  Bmuees  tbfmeelf.    183 

here,  surely,  was  a  bird  which  resembled  the 
extinct  moa,  the  giant  frame  of  which  is  found 
on  the  Australian  coast.  It  was  a  weird  play- 
ground, and  suggested  weirder  thoughts. 

For  a  few  minutes  no  one  spoke.  Truly, 
when  man  is  face  to  face  with  Nature's  won- 
ders, he  realizes  how  commonplace  and  puny, 
after  all,  are  the  greatest  of  man's  works.  The 
pyramids  and  the  sphinx,  set  down  on  this 
Titan's  playground,  would  only  have  added  a 
little  variety  to  this  collection  of  monstrosi- 
ties. 

"  It  is  difficult  to  express  one's  thoughts 
properly  with  regard  to  such  a  scene,"  Mrs. 
Tredennis  said  slowly,  as  she  gazed  with  a 
thoughtful  look  upon  the  outre  sight.  "  If  one 
attempted  to  put  these  colors  on  canvas,  the 
public  would  resent  it  as  an  insult  to  their  intel- 
ligence, and  the  critics  would  say  I  had  gone 
mad.  A  Dor^  might  make  a  sketch  of  it  in 
some  neutral  tints,  and  call  it  by  some  fanciful 
name,  such  as  '  The  Gateway  of  the  Inferno,'  or 
'  A  Landscape  from  another  World,'  and  it 
might  excite  the  passing  love  of  the  world  in  the 
wonderful.  But  no  one  would  believe  for  an 
instant  that  such  a  place  ever  existed.  With  all 
due  deference  to  Dor6  for  having  mentioned  his 
name  in  connection  with  my  intentions,  I  think 
I  should  like  a  memento  of  this  place.  Mr. 
Holmes,  if  you  will  let  me  get  off  here,  you  can 
drive  on  to  where  you  like  ;  and  you  can  either 
pick  me  up  on  your  way  back,  or,  if  I  finish  this 


i84         ^be  ©evil's  iPla^grounD. 

sketch  in  time,  I  shall  come  on  to  where  you  are 
camped." 

There  was  some  demur  about  this  ;  but  as  a 
slight  wind  had  sprung  up,  which  was  not 
exactly  mild,  and  as  they  could  not  keep  the 
horses  long  in  it  on  that  exposed  plateau,  it  was 
arranged  that  Jack  Holmes  and  the  girls  should 
continue  their  course  along  the  brow  of  the 
hillside,  then,  descending  it,  camp  on  the  bottom, 
near  a  spot  where  there  was  a  clump  of  timber. 
They  had  heard  of  a  place  where  there  was  a 
fossilized  bank  of  shells  somewhere  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, and  they  would  have  a  search  for  it, 
and  try  to  secure  some  specimens.  Mrs.  Tre- 
dennis  alighted,  and  they  handed  out  her  sketch- 
ing materials.  Dick  Travers,  who  could  not  in 
common  politeness  leave,  was  getting  his  picket- 
rope  out  of  the  wagon,  when  Mrs.  Tredennis 
stopped  him,  saying  that  he  had  better  pilot  the 
others  down  to  the  bottom  first,  and  picket  out 
his  horse  with  theirs.  Besides,  they  might  not 
be  able  to  discover  the  fossils  without  his  help. 
She  did  not  mind  being  left  alone  ;  her  sketch 
would  soon  be  finished.  She  would  follow  up 
the  wagon  tracks,  and  perhaps  after  all,  she 
might  be  in  time  to  join  them  at  lunch,  although 
it  was  immaterial  whether  she  got  any  or  not. 

Whatever  the  others  thought  about  the  ready 
acquiescence  of  Dick  to  this  proposal,  he  neither 
knew  nor  cared.  He  only  felt  that  he  would 
not  have  pressed  his  services  upon  her  just  then 
for  the  sake  of  the  good  opinion  of  the  world 


Mbere  tbe  2)evll  Bmuses  Ibtmselt.    185 

at  large  ;  but  still  he  felt  unaccountably  piqued. 
Without  further  parley,  he  rode  on  ahead  of  the 
wagon,  and  called  on  them  to  follow  him. 
They  then  descended  a  steep  incline,  and  bowl- 
ing over  a  mile  or  two  of  hard,  dry  clay,  soon 
arrived  at  the  clump  of  wolf-willow  and  maple 
which  fringed  the  creek  at  the  mouth  of  the 
"  Bad  Valley,"  as  it  was  called.  They  un- 
hitched, and  picketing  out  the  horses  on  a  patch 
of  grass,  prepared  to  start  out  in  quest  of  the 
bank  of  shells. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

HIS  SATANIC  MAJESTY  MAKES  A  MOVE. 

By  this  time  a  rattier  remarkable  change  had 
come  over  the  weather.  The  sky  now  assumed 
a  dull,  leaden  hue  ;  and  away  to  the  north 
there  was  an  ominous  shadow,  that  made  one 
think  of  winter  to  look  at  it.  Dick  did  not  al- 
together like  the  look  of  that  shadow.  Miss 
Dalton,  who  was  a  pretty,  sensible,  and  agree- 
able girl,  was  waiting  for  him  to  be  her  com- 
panion to  that  great  mudbank  where  the  fossil- 
ized remains  of  strange  shells  and  stranger  fish 
(in  that  they  seemed  to  be  all  body  and  no 
head)  of  a  bygone  and  forgotten  age,  held  out 
a  veritable  museum  of  wonders.  She  was  a 
girl  that  any  man  might  have  been  proud  to 
walk  alongside  of ;  in  her  smart  grey  tailor- 
made  dress  and  natty  hat,  she  was  a  rare 
anomaly  in  that  wild  No-Man's  Land.  But 
Dick,  in  spite  of  himself,  thought  of  something 
else ;  he  pictured  some  one  sitting  all  alone  up 
the  valley  on  the  brow  of  the  cliff,  sketching 
the  scene  beneath  her.  Truly,  she  had  alien- 
ated his  sympathy  by  her  heartless  conduct  in 
the  past ;  but  then,  he  had  at  one  time  loved 


Ibis  Satanic  jfDbajest^  /iRaftes  a  ISiovc.  187 

her,  and  he  could  not  altogether  crush  the  re- 
membrance of  that  love.  He  had  cursed  him- 
self over  and  over  again  for  his  folly,  in  not  be- 
ing able  to  attain  that  state  of  mind  in  which 
he  might  be  able  to  look  upon  her  with  utter 
indifference,  if  not  with  contempt.  But  still, 
he  was  one  of  those  weak  mortals,  that  strong- 
minded  persons — who  are  blessed  in  that  they 
can  sacrifice  heart  to  head  when  required — 
designate  as  one  of  the  "  soft  ones  "  ;  and  now 
he  was  about  to  sacrifice  the  promptings  of 
prudence  to  his  consideration  for  others.  Poor 
Dick,  he  was  perfectly  sincere. 

"  I  don't  Hke  the  look  of  that  skj^"  he  re- 
marked ;  "  I  am  very  sorry  I  can't  go  with  you, 
for  I  think  I  shall  have  to  go  back  and  look  af- 
ter Mrs.  Tredennis  :  one  can  get  so  easily  lost 
in  that  broken  country.  I  should  not  have  left 
her,  no  matter  what  she  said.  You  can't  miss 
the  bank  of  fossils  if  you  follow  right  down 
this  side  of  the  creek ;  in  the  meantime,  I'm 
afraid  I  must  leave  you." 

"  And  won't  you  take  anybody  with  you  ?  " 
asked  the  fair  girl,  looking  upon  him  with  an 
engaging  entreaty  that  would  have  settled  the 
matter  with  most  men  right  away.  Then,  see 
ing  him  hesitate,  her  mood  changed,  and  she 
added,  as  the  light  somewhat  left  her  eyes,  and 
the  smile  died  upon  her  lips,  but  still  pleasantly, 
"  Or,  no,  perhaps  I'd  better  turn  fossil-hunter; 
five  is  an  awkward  number  for  a  picnic,  any- 
how," 


i88         Zbc  DcviVs  ipla^grounD. 

"  Nonsense,"  laughed  Dick,  "  I  simply  can't 
see  the  force  of  dragging  you  away  up  that 
coullee  again.  Anyhow,  I'm  going  to  climb 
the  cut-bank  to  avoid  going  away  round  by 
the  stony  beach.  1  should  not  advise  any  of 
you  to  wander  too  far  away.  I  very  much  fear 
there  is  some  ugly  change  in  the  weather  brew- 
ing.   Au  revoir,  till  lunch  time  anyhow." 

"  Au  revoir"  they  shouted  in  chorus,  and 
instinctively  looked  after  the  spare,  but  well- 
knit  figure  of  the  man  that  somehow  every  one 
felt  so  much  attracted  to,  but  still  whom  they 
could  but  imperfectly  understand.  In  their 
minds  was  no  prescience  of  approaching  evil. 
And  it  was  a  coincidence,  pure  and  simple,  in 
accordance  with  after  events,  that  when  he  got 
to  the  ridge  in  sight  of  the  series  of  clay 
terraces  he  should  look  back  and  wave  his  hand 
to  them.  There  was  a  certain  young  lady 
there,  who  was  suddenly  seized  with  an  almost 
irresistible  impulse  to  kiss  her  hand  to  him  in 
return ;  but  she  checked  herself  in  time,  and 
wondered  what  had  possessed  her  to  think  of 
such  a  thing,  and  speculated  on  her  state  of 
mind  if  she  had  committed  such  a  rash  act.  A 
few  days  afterwards,  she  was  sorry  that  she 
stifled  in  its  birth  a  natural  and  kindly,  if  an 
unorthodox  action. 

Dick  climbed  the  series  of  ridges  :  they  were 
neither  dangerous  nor  difficult  just  there,  and 
again  stood  on  the  brow  of  the  cliff  overlooking 
the  valley.     He  went  on  to  where  he  had  left 


Ibis  Satantc  /Hbalestv)  /Bbaftes  a  /Rove.  189 

Mrs.  Tredennis,  and  looked  all  along  for  her, 
but  she  was  nowhere  to  be  seen.  She  must 
have  gone  in  search  of  some  new  point  of  van- 
tage from  which  to  sketch  the  Devil's  Play- 
ground. Travers  followed  along  the  brow  of 
the  cliff  for  a  mile  or  so,  to  a  place  where  a 
series  of  shelving  terraces  sloped  in  a  broken 
and  irregular  way  towards  the  valley  again.  It 
was  some  time  before  he  discovered  her  of 
whom  he  was  in  quest ;  she  was  perched  on 
one  of  the  terraces  overhanging  a  deep,  broken 
coullee  a  few  hundred  yards  or  so  from  where 
he  stood :  how  she  got  there  puzzled  him.  He 
started  off  to  reach  her  on  one  of  these  irregu- 
lar terraces  ;  but  when  he  came  to  within  speak- 
ing distance  of  her,  he  discovered  he  had  taken 
the  wrong  one,  and  stood  directly  above  her.  A 
drop  of  several  feet,  and  a  slide  down  a  soft 
face  of  clay,  and  he  was  directly  behind  her. 
She  was  sketching  intently,  and  evidently  was 
unaware  of  his  approach.  She  had  sketched 
with  a  bold  sweeping  stroke  the  wildly  irregu- 
lar and  grotesque  features  of  the  scene  ;  but 
now  her  eyes  rested  on  it,  as  if  she  were  some- 
■*  what  at  a  loss  to  treat  such  a  subject.  Dick 
was  unwilling  to  disturb  her,  and  watched  her, 
keeping  perfectly  still.  Suddenly,  with  a  start, 
she  turned  round  and  gazed  full  upon  him  with 
almost  a  look  of  fear  in  her  eyes,  though  it  was 
evident  she  strove  to  conceal  any  surprise. 

"  I  did  not  expect  you  back,"  she  said,  hur- 
ridly,  before  Dick  could  apologize  for  having 


igo         Zbc  Devil's  {pla^grounD. 

disturbed  her,  though  for  the  life  of  him  he 
could  not  tell  how  it  was  she  had  suddenly 
divined  his  presence.     She  continued — 

"  Do  you  know,  a  strange  thing  has  hap- 
pened. I  neither  saw  nor  heard  you,  but  sud- 
denly you  came  into  my  thoughts,  and  I  felt 
somehow  that  yeu  were  near  me  ,  I  turned  round 
and  found  it  was  so.  Don't  you  think  it  was 
more  than  a  coincidence  ?  " 

Her  lips  were  parted,  and  her  eyes  were 
eager  and  fixed  upon  his.  She  was  evidently 
ill  at  ease  about  something,  and  strove  to 
divert  the  personal  nature  of  the  conversation. 

"  Not  so  very  strange  after  all,"  he  said. 
"  It  is  simply  an  unexplored  science ;  mind- 
reading  is  the  outcome  of  it,  which  might 
explain  the  phenomena ;  they  say  that  people 
of  a  peculiar  temperament  have  the  power  to  a 
greater  or  less  degree.  It  seems  to  be  a  highly 
impressionable  and  sensitive  condition  of  the 
brain  and  nerves — abnormally  developed  per- 
ceptive faculties,  or  whatever  you  may  choose 
to  call  it.  I  have  told  the  numbers  on  a  bank- 
note held  by  another  man  five  times  out  of  six 
myself.  It  sounds  like  nonsense  to  some  peo- 
ple. But  the  existence  of  the  phenomenon  is 
an  acknowledged  fact,  governed  by  natural 
laws  all  the  same." 

"  You  make  me  almost  afraid  of  you,"  she 
said,  with  a  slight  laugh.  "  I  can  understand 
now,  how  it  was  that  I  was  almost  afraid  to 
think  at  times  when  you  were  near  me." 


Ibis  Satanfc  /Dbajests  /Hbaftes  a  ^ove.  191 

"  Then  you  admit  that  the  past  sometimes 
troubles  you  ?  "  he  rejoined,  seating  himself  on 
a  boulder  of  clay  near  to  her,  and  regarding 
her  curiously.  Her  face  flushed  slightly,  as 
she  met  his  eyes ;  but  with  the  air  of  one  who 
has  nothing  to  fear  or  to  conceal,  she  said — 

"  Do  you  think  it  fair  or  manly  to  tax  me  like 
this  ?  I  have  told  you  before,  that  it  were  bet- 
ter to  let  things  remain  as  they  are.  To  resur- 
rect the  past  is  only  to  make  matters  worse  for 
both  you  and  me  :  and  oh,  I  know  what  you 
must  have  thought  of  me ;  it  is  useless,  I  fear, 
to  expect  that  you  should  think  otherwise.  But 
for  pity's  sake  do  not  talk  of  the  past !  " 

She  said  this  almost  piteously  ;  but  there  was 
that  light  in  her  eyes,  and  on  her  face,  that  he 
had  seen  there  on  a  former  occasion,  and  which 
was  difficult  to  reconcile  with  a  consciousness 
of  wrong-doing.  It  was  rather  a  look  of  nobil- 
ity :  that  of  one  who  would  sooner  suffer  mis- 
representation and  shame  in  the  sight  of  those 
whose  good  opinion  she  most  valued,  rather 
than  that  which  would  remove  all  stigma  from 
her,  but  expose  her  to  a  greater  evil.  He  was 
now  conscious  of  some  hidden  truth — on  a 
former  occasion  its  existence  had  suggested 
itself  to  him ;  now,  he  was  sure  of  it,  and  he 
regarded  her  with  the  light  of  a  great  trouble 
in  his  eyes,  which  was  devoid  of  the  anger  that 
he  had  felt  before.  She  returned  his  gaze 
calmly.  Then,  slowly  her  eyes  dropped  before 
his,  as  she  said  in  a  voice  that,  though  low  and 
kindly,  was  not  altogether  steady— 


192  Sbe  ©evil's  jpla^grounO. 

'•  Let  us  talk  of  something  else,  Dick.  It's 
stupid  of  us  to  be  always  skating  on  the  verge 
of  a  quarrel." 

Across  the  leaden-hued  sky  a  ray  of  sickly 
sunlight  fell ;  it  shot  across  the  gloomy  valley, 
and  lighting  up  the  face  of  the  loathly  saurian, 
had  the  effect  of  making  that  reptile  look  as  if 
it  M'ere  in  a  condition  bordering  on  lugubrious- 
ness.  It  also  made  the  wicked-looking  old 
toad  leer  more  horribly  than  ever.  So  sudden 
and  complete  was  the  illusion  that  Mrs.  Tre- 
dennis,  thinking  it  might  be  only  a  trick  of  her 
own  fertile  imagination,  looked  at  her  compan- 
ion to  observe  if  he  had  also  noticed  it.  His 
eyes  met  hers  and  they  both  laughed. 

"  Are  they  not'  a  pretty  pair  ?  "  he  asked,  as 
if  divining  her  thoughts,  "  I  don't  think  I  ever 
saw  such  a  gruesome  spot  in  all  my  life.  One 
could  imagine  such  a  place  set  aside  for  the 
enactment  of  some  dark  retributive  act  from  the 
night  side  of  mundane  things." 

"To  hear  you  talk,"  she  rejoined,  smilingly, 
"  one  would  think  you  anticipated  trouble.  I 
hope  you  have  no  awkward  presentiment  that 
we  two  have^  got  to  be  the  principal  actors  in 
such  a  tragedy  as  you  evidently  think  about. 
How  cold  it  has  got  all  of  a  sudden  !  " 

W-h-i-s-h-sh  ! 

A  gust  of^  wind  swept  over  their  heads,  and 
stirred  up  the  fine  alkali  dust  in  the  valley 
beneath  them.  It  rose  in  pillar-like  clouds, 
until    it    assumed    the    appearance  of    steam 


1bls  Satanic  /Iftajest^  /iftaftcs  a  /iRove.  193 

ascending  from  some  unseen  caldron.  Mrs. 
Tredennis  stopped  sketching  for  a  minute,  and 
looked  wonderingly  at  the  changing  scene ; 
much  in  the  same  way  as  she  would  have  looked 
at  a  child,  who  had  betrayed  a  sudden  fit  of 
temper.  She  was  a  charming  contrast,  this 
young  woman,  with  her  handsome  and  trim 
figure  shown  to  its  best  advantage  by  a  fault- 
less taste,  and  with  the  delicate  bloom  of  health 
on  her  cheek,  and  its  lustre  in  her  eyes.  She 
would  have  made  a  striking  picture,  posed 
against  one  of  these  grotesqueries  as  a  foil  to 
her  beauty.  Then  for  a  while  their  conversa- 
tion hinged  on  natural  phenomena  of  a  like 
nature,  and  which  Travers  had  seen  in  South 
America  ;  and  so  interesting  evidently  did  the 
conversation  become,  that  Mrs.  Tredennis  was 
in  danger  of  neglecting  her  sketch. 

Ss-w-z'ssh  / 

A  chill  gust  of  wind  shrilled  over  their  heads  ; 
and  a  drear  shadow  enveloped  the  valley  in  a 
ghostly  twilight.  Then  there  was  a  sobbing 
and  sighing  in  the  air,  and  an  ominous  murmur 
like  that  which  precedes  a  cyclone,  ere  it  comes 
raving  and  crashing  through  the  far  Australian 
forest.  How  cold  it  had  grown  all  of  a  sud- 
den ! 

Travers  sprung  to  his  feet  as  a  feathery  flake 
of  snow  melted  on  his  cheek.  His  companion 
shivered  and  closed  her  sketch-book,  but  be- 
trayed no  uneasiness  whatever. 

"Snow!"     cried     Dick,     now     thoroughly 


194         tTbe  "BcviVe  BMa^grounD. 

alarmed,  for  he  knew  what  that  meant.  "  We 
must  get  out  of  here  as  quickly  as  possible.  I 
am  to  blame  for  not  having  made  you  leave  this 
before.  I  wonder  if  this  terrace  runs  into  the 
bench  again  ;  if  so  we  might  follow  it  right  up  ; 
once  there  we  would  be  safer,  and  traveling 
would  be  easier." 

"  Look  eastward,"  Mrs.  Tredennis  said,  "  it 
seems  to  run  into  the  plateau  again.  Let  us  try 
it,  anyhow.  You  need  not  blame  yourself,  I 
alone  am  to  blame.  Anyhow,  I  want  you  to 
try  this  way  of  reaching  the  top,  and  if  we  have 
to  turn  again  the  fault  will  have  been  mine." 

She  was  perfectly  cool  and  collected  ;  indeed, 
much  more  so  than  he  was.  He  attributed  it 
to  her  ignorance  of  what  such  a  change  meant 
in  these  parts.  But  here  he  wronged  her ;  for 
she  had  read  of  how  men  had  been  lost  and 
frozen  to  death  on  their  way  from  their  dwel- 
ling-houses to  the  horse-stable  ;  and  how  chil-. 
dren  had  been  overtaken  by  these  same 
blizzards,  and  perished  miserably  on  their  way 
to  school. 

They  hurried  along  the  shelving  terrace,  and 
as  they  went,  the  feathery  flakes  of  snow  fell 
thicker,  and  more  quickly  around  them ;  they 
could  not  see  the  valley  beneath,  but  as  yet  the 
overhanging  terrace  behind,  somewhat  pro- 
tected them  from  the  keen  wind  that  was  blow- 
ing. In  less  than  five  minutes  there  was  a 
carpet  of  snow  under  their  feet ;  and  despite 
the   sheltering   cliff,  it   was   impossible   to   see 


Ibis  Satanic  /IftajestB  /Dbal^cs  a  /iRove.  195 

more  than  a  few  paces  ahead  of  them.  Over 
their  heads  they  could  see  the  snow  scurrying 
along  at  a  pitiless,  fearful  rate.  They  knew  it 
would  be  impossible  for  any  living  thing  to  ex- 
ist on  that  exposed  plateau.  Suddenly  they 
were  shut  in  by  semi-darkness.  It  grew  icy 
cold  as  the  wind  dashed  the  half  frozen  snow 
against  their  hands  and  cheeks  ;  and  as  it  was 
difificult  to  hear  each  other  speak  by  reason  of 
the  noise  of  the  wind,  and  the  hissing  of  the 
blizzard,  they  were  in  a  sorry  plight. 

Now,  on  the  level  prairie,  where  there  is 
nothing  to  offer  any  obstruction  to  the  fury  of 
the  wind  and  snow,  one  of  the  peculiar  features 
of  the  blizzard  is  the  almost  utter  absence  of  all 
sound.  A  blizzard  is  a  terribly  real,  but  a 
ghostly  thing ;  for  on  the  open  prairie  one 
seems  struggling  with  an  invisible  force  that  is 
silent  as  the  grave.  But  here,  in  this  wildly 
irregular  and  honeycombed  country,  the  ele- 
ments broke  and  eddied  round  the  great  pillars 
of  clay  as  if  the  devil  were  playing  in  a  shrill, 
minor  key  on  a  species  of  pan-pipes. 

Instinctively  she  had  held  out  her  hand  to 
him,  and  he  had  taken  it  and  led  her  along  im- 
passively. Suddenly  they  drew  back  in  fear — 
the  terrace  had  suddenly  broken  off,  part  of  it 
had  slid  away  from  the  cliff  alongside,  and  the 
continuation  of  the  terrace  was  probably  far 
beneath  them.  To  reach  it  the  descent  would 
be  almost  perpendicular,  which  would  necessi- 
tate a  cool  head  and  firm  nerves.     Dick  paused 


196         Zbe  "BcviVs  iPla^grounD. 

nonplussed  ;  but  Mrs.  Tredennis  caught  him  by 
the  arm,  and  placing  her  mouth  close  to  his  ear, 
said  in  a  quiet,  steady  voice — 

"  I  am  not  afraid  to  go  down  there,  besides,  I 
have  got  this  stick,  and  if  you  give  me  your 
hand  I  think  we  could  manage  it.  We  must 
get  to  better  shelter  than  we  have  here,  any- 
how." 

Her  eyes  were  perfectly  calm  and  untroubled 
despite  the  danger  in  which  they  were,  and 
there  was  no  murmur  or  complaint  upon  her 
lips.  The  childlike  confidence  she  seemed  to 
place  in  him,  somewhat  touched  and  gave  him 
courage. 

"  All  right ;  "  he  shouted  back,  "  there  can 
be  no  danger  if  you  only  clasp  your  hands 
round  this  belt  of  mine,  and  brace  yourself  so, 
against  the  side  of  the  cliff. — Now,  then  !  " 

There  was  no  time  to  lose,  he  knew  that 
every  minute's  delay  meant  danger  ;  besides, 
they  were  both  becoming  chilled  and  less  capa- 
ble of  performing  a  feat  such  as  they  now  pro- 
posed to  do. 

They  stepped  over  the  brink ;  Dick  planted 
his  feet  firmly  on  the  now  somewhat  slippery 
clay.  He  had  taken  off  a  spur,  and  grasping  it 
firmly  in  one  hand,  had  dug  the  neck  securely 
into  the  wall  of  earth  ;  it  helped  to  steady  him. 
But  the  wall-like  bank  was  more  difificult  to 
maintain  a  footing  on  than  they  had  bargained 
for ;  as  if  they  had  suddenly  shot  over  some 
slippery  glacier  on  an  Alpine  peak,  they  slid 


tbi3  Satanic  /Rajest^  ilbaftes  a  /above.  197 

down  it  at  a  sickening  rate.  If  they  should 
strike  now  one  of  those  narrow  terraces,  by 
reason  of  the  impetus  which  they  had  gained, 
they  would  go  clean  over  it,  on  to  what  it  was 
horrible  to  think.  There  was  only  one  thing  to 
be  done.  Mrs.  Tredennis  was  worse  than 
a  dead  weight  to  him,  and  her  slim  ankle  boots 
offered  no  resistance  to  the  soft  slippery  bank. 
Dick  looked  into  the  face  of  Mrs.  Tredennis, 
and  though  there  was  nothing  like  panic  or  fear 
in  it,  he  saw  she  realized  the  situation.  In 
another  second  she  had  loosened  her  hold  on 
his  belt,  and  was  about  to  throw  herself  from 
him  when  he  divined  her  purpose.  With  one 
supreme  effort  he  wound  his  arm  round  her 
waist,  and  lifting  her  sheer  oif  her  feet  rested 
her  against  his  right  side.  He  dug  his  feet 
firmly  into  the  clay  with  the  energy  of  despair, 
and  braced  himself  against  the  precipitous  wall. 
His  increased  weight  steadied  him,  and  he 
found  that  his  feet  could  offer  a  greater  resist- 
ance to  the  treacherous  clay,  and  his  impetus 
was  lessened.  In  another  minute  his  feet 
struck  a  narrow  platform,  and  throwing  him- 
self against  it  he  strained  every  nerve  in  his 
body  to  prevent  their  going  over.  In  another 
second  they  knew  that  they  were  saved,  from 
one  horrible  death  at  least. 

Then  Dick  released  his  grip  upon  Mrs.  Tre- 
dennis, but  still  held  her  firmly  by  one  hand. 
Her  face  was  somewhat  pale,  and  her  eyes 
were  strangely  bright ;  but  there  was  nothing 


198         Hbe  Devtrs  iPlassrounJ). 

approaching  to  fear  in  them.  It  was  only  when 
she  peered  over  the  edge  of  the  terrace  on 
which  they  crouched,  and  saw  the  misty  depth 
beneath  them,  that  she  realized  from  what  she 
had  escaped. 

There  was  something  in  her  conduct  that 
Dick  could  not  reconcile  with  his  late  estimate 
of  her.  She  had,  he  believed,  in  the  past  sacri- 
ficed her  love  of  him — such  as  it  must  have 
been — to  worldly  considerations.  But  still, 
when  they  were  slipping  down  that  bank  to- 
gether she  had  not  hesitated  to  release  her  hold 
on  him — though  it  meant  certain  death  to  her 
— in  order  that  she  might  not  endanger  his 
chances  of  escape.  Ninety-nine  girls  in  a  unh- 
dred,  he  told  himself,  in  a  similar  situation, 
even  if  they  had  possessed  the  presence  of 
mind,  would  have  considered  their  own  safety 
first.  That  she  was  ready  to  sacrifice  her  own 
life  for  his  was  a  revelation,  and  enigmatical. 

When  Dick  spoke  to  her,  it  was  in  a  different 
mood  from  that  in  which  he  had  addressed  her 
on  a  previous  occasion  ;  but  he  infused  as  much 
brusqueness  into  his  speech  as  he  could  muster. 

"You  must  not  do  such  a  foolhardy  thing 
again,"  he  said.  "  You  see  your  extra  weight 
was  a  help  to  me,  and  not  a  source  of  danger  as 
you  imagined.  We  must  get  out  of  this. 
Give  me  your  hand,  so.  Do  you  think  you 
could  stand  on  this  narrow  path  without  getting 
dizzy  ?  " 

"  If  you  held  my  hand,  Dick,"  she  replied, 


Ibis  Satanic  /Bbajests  /Raftes  a  rtovc,  199 

raising  her  eyes  to  his.  But  she  looked  away 
again,  as  if  conscious  that  she  was  upon  dan- 
gerous ground,  and  which  was  not  in  accordance 
with  the  policy  she  had  determined  upon. 

Faster  and  faster  whirled  the  blinding  snow, 
hiding  everything  from  their  sight ;  and  per- 
haps it  was  as  well,  for  now  it  shut  out  the 
abyss  that  yawned  beneath  them.  Dick  raised 
her  from  the  ground,  and  taking  her  by  the 
hand  led  her  along  the  narrow  winding  ledge. 
Sometimes,  when  the  eddying  wind  caught 
them,  it  threatened  to  dash  them  from  their 
scanty  foothold.  At  length  the  terrace  got 
broader,  and  the  wall  of  the  cliff  at  certain 
places  became  hollowed  out  and  overhung  them, 
forming  a  series  of  cave-like  recesses,  which 
were  comparatively  sheltered  and  dry.  On  the 
exposed  part  of  the  terrace  the  footing  now  be- 
came so  uncertain  and  difficult  that  it  was  dan- 
gerous to  proceed.  At  length  they  came  to  a 
recess  that  seemed  to  pierce  further  into  the 
cliff  than  the  others.  By  this  time  Mrs.  Tre- 
dennis  showed  signs  of  fatigue,  and  Dick  was 
afraid  that,  despite  her  uncommon  pluck,  she 
would  play  out  altogether. 

"We  had  better  go  in  here,  and  rest,"  he 
said.  "  It  is  impossible  for  any  one  to  live  on 
the  bench  in  such  a  storm,  even  if  it  were  pos- 
sible to  get  there." 

She  simply  bowed  her  head  by  way  of  assent ; 
and  he  led  her  into  the  cave,  which  was  per- 
fectly dry,  and  which,  though  cold,  seemed  a 


200  Zbc  WcviVs  BMaggrounD. 

very  haven  of  refuge  from  the  blinding  blizzard. 
They  staggered  in,  and  Mrs.  Tredennis,  sinking 
on  a  low  ledge  of  rocks,  buried  her  face  in  her 
hands,  and  lay  for  a  few  moments  motionless, 
as  if  to  recover  from  the  strain  of  the  last 
terrible  thirty  minutes. 

"  Oh,  those  poor  girls  !  "  were  the  first  words 
she  uttered.  She  never  for  an  instant  seemed 
to  consider  her  own  position,  doubly  perilous  as 
it  was  ;  a  stranger  to  have  heard  her  would  have 
thought  that  she  had  been  guilty  of  something 
worse  than  carelessness,  in  allowing  them  to 
stray  into  that  wilderness.  Travers  assured 
her,  as  well  as  he  might,  of  the  advantages  of 
the  place,  so  far  as  shelter  was  concerned,  in 
which  he  had  left  Holmes  and  the  two  girls. 
Besides,  he  knew  that  the  former  could  be 
counted  upon  to  act  with  promptitude  and  dis- 
cretion in  an  emergency. 

And  still  the  blizzard  raged  outside.  It  was 
as  if  a  broken  avalanche  of  snow  and  ice  were 
borne  along  on  the  pitiless  breath  of  a  hurri- 
cane. 

The  devil  was  playing  a  bold  game. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

A   BLIZZARD. 

When  Dick  Travers  left  the  two  girls  and 
Holmes,  the  latter  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  best  thing  to  be  done  under  the  circum- 
stances (seeing  that  two  were  coi'^pany  and  three 
were  none — for  the  Sage  was  .^ot  above  the 
petty  weaknesses  of  mankind)  was  to  find  the 
fossil  ground,  and  get  back  to  camp  as  soon  as 
possible.  Furthermore,  despite  his  inexperience. 
Jack  did  not  altogether  like  the  look  of  the 
weather  ;  and  he  knew  that  now,  since  the  two 
young  ladies  were  under  his  care,  if  anything 
happened  to  them,  he  was  mainly  responsible. 
He  knew  that  Mrs.  Tredennis  was  in  the  best 
of  hands  with  Dick, 

They  followed  down  the  creek  and  found  the 
bank  without  much  trouble.  It  proved  a  veri- 
table storehouse  of  curiosities.  They  found 
sea-shells  of  every  variety  and  pattern,  from 
the  homely  cockle  to  a  species  the  like  of  which, 
and  the  existence  of,  they  had  never  dreamed. 
As  for  fish,  they  were  of  every  shape  and  size  ; 
the  very  skin  was  so  wonderfully  preserved 
that  it  glistened  silvery  white  and  pink.     They 


202  XLbc  Devil's  IPlai^grounO. 

were  gathering  some  beautiful  specimens, 
culling  and  discarding  others,  and  keeping  up  a 
merry  fire  of  banter  the  while,  when  suddenly 
the  Sage  called  out — 

"  Hilloa — look  there  !  We  must  get  back  to 
camp  as  soon  as  possible.  I  wonder  if  Dick 
has  found  Mrs.  Tredennis  ?  If  that  isn't  a 
blizzard  coming  up,  then  all  I  have  heard  about 
them  is  nonsense." 

He  pointed  to  the  north-west.  There, 
surely  enough,  was  a  great  dark  shadow  slowly 
spreading  itself  over  the  face  of  the  sky.  There 
was  a  deadly  stillness  in  the  air,  and  it  had 
grown  cold  ;  but  in  their  warm,  tweed  dresses 
the  girls  had  not  thought  much  of  that. 

Sssh — w — i — s — h  ! 

On  it  came  ;  and,  despite  their  light-hearted- 
ness  and  inexperience,  it  was  an  ominous  and 
eerie  sound.  It  was  the  first  breath  of  a  wind 
that  suggested  the  frozen  regions  of  the  North ; 
and  the  change,  from  even  a  sickly,  watery 
gleam  of  sunshine  was  sudden  enough  to  be 
startling. 

"  Give  me  those  shells,"  said  Holmes.  He 
took  the  pocket-handkerchief  containing  the 
fossils  from  the  girls.  "  Now,  if  you  have  ever 
followed  up  the  otter  hounds,  imagine  that  you 
are  at  a  hunt  now.  The  sooner  we  get  back  in 
camp  the  better." 

They  ran  and  walked  by  turns,  back  to  where 
they  had  left  the  wagon  and  horses.  As  yet 
the  girls  were  in  no  way  alarmed.     Their  idea 


ZbC  J6l(33acD.  203 

of  a  storm  was  limited  at  tlie  most  to  tiie  recol- 
lection of  an  Old-Country  one  ;  which,  always 
at  its  worst,  would  give  those  who  were  caught 
in  it,  a  few  hours  at  least  to  place  themselves 
beyond  the  reach  of  its  fury  ;  and  before  the 
snow  would  get  too  deep  for  a  team  to  travel. 

"  It  seems  to  me,"  said  Holmes,  "  that  we 
are  in  the  direct  track  of  the  storm,  for  such 
I've  no  doubt  that  it  is.  It  would  be  folly  to  keep 
the  horses  down  in  this  hollow  ;  for  if  it  comes 
on  to  snow  we  will  never  get  them  out.  It 
looks  clearer  to  the  east;  we  must  travel  in 
that  direction.  Into  the  wagon  both  of  you  ; 
we  will  drive  back  along  the  brow  of  the  cliff, 
where  we  left  Mrs.  Tredennis,  and  with  whom 
Dick  doubtless  now  is,  and  pick  them  up.  It 
would  be  madness  to  remain  here  in  this  strange, 
broken  country  ;  we  should  never  leave  it." 

Loth  though  the  two  girls  were  to  make  a 
move  that  might  possibly  upset  the  calculations 
of  their  companions,  and  perhaps  be  the  means 
of  missing  them,  should  they  descend  to  this 
camping  ground  by  some  other  way ;  they 
nevertheless  could  see  the  folly  of  remaining,  in 
such  a  dangerous  place  as  the  Devil's  Play- 
ground would  prove  to  be  in  the  event  of  a 
storm.  Holmes  hitched  up  the  horses :  they 
clambered  into  the  wagon,  and  away  they  rat- 
tled up  the  dangerous  path  by  which  they  had 
descended.  Ere  they  came  to  the  steepest  part 
they  alighted,  and  it  took  Holmes  all  his  time  to 
coach  the  two  wiry  horses  safely  on  to  the  bench 
again. 


204  JLbe  "JDcviVe  BMa^grounD. 

Ssw — z — s/i  ! 

Holmes  plied  his  whip. 

Ten  minutes  more,  and  they  stood  on  the 
brink  of  the  hideous  gulch. 

"  Where  on  earth  are  they  ? "  he  cried,  in 
tones  of  annoyance,  and  looking  around  ex- 
citedly. 

A  sickly  ray  o.f  sunlight  just  then  shot  like  a 
wan  meteor  from  the  grey  heavens,  and  piercing 
the  semi-twilight  of  the  gloomy,  gruesome  val- 
ley, rested  for  a  second  on  the  face  of  the  eyeless, 
loathly  saurian,  which  seemed  to  grin  horribly, 
and  on  that  of  the  wicked,  leering  old  toad. 

The  girls  shivered  instinctively,  as  their  eyes 
rested  upon  them, 

"  What  a  wizard's  freak  ! "  the  elder  of  the 
two  remarked.  "  Bunyan  or  Dante  could  not 
have  dreamed  of  a  more  horrible  place.  Nature 
must  have  meant  to  embody  the  idea  of  a  night- 
mare, when  she  fashioned  this  valley." 

"Hold  the  reins,  one  of  you  girls."  The 
Sage  was  forgetting  his  manners  in  his  excite- 
ment ;  but  perhaps  the  gravity  of  the  position 
justified  dispensing  with  ceremony  just  then. 
He  ran  to  the  brow  of  the  cliff,  and  putting  his 
hands  to  his  lips,  gave  out  the  cry  of  that  far-off 
world — the  Australian  "  Coo-ee  !  "  again  and 
again.  He  paused  and  listened  in  a  state  of 
painful,  nervous  tension,  and  scanned  every 
corner  of  the  valley  in  sight.  But  there  was  no 
sign  of  life  in  that  wild  spot. 

"  It's  too  bad  !  "  cried  Holmes,  despairingly^ 


tree  J6ll33at^«  205 

"  They  could  hardly  have  started  back  to  the 
camp  without  letting  us  know  of  it :  but  it's 
just  probable  they  have  done  so.  I  don't  think 
it  possible  that  they  can  be  here.  Anyhow,  it 
is  as  much  as  our  lives  are  worth  to  stop  on  this 
exposed  plateau ;  we  must  get  back  to  the 
shelter  of  Wild  Horse  Creek — the  only  clear 
spot  left  in  the  sky  is  to  the  east.  There's  no 
.help  for  it.  Give  me  the  reins.  Thanks,  now 
don't  alarm  yourselves  if  I  give  you  rather  a 
rough  ride." 

S — w — / — s — /i,  hi — sss  ! 

He  gave  a  last  despairing  look  at  the  ill-fated 
valley,  and  groaned  aloud  in  spite  of  himself. 

"  Oh,  Dick,  Dick  !  "  he  groaned,  under  his 
breath.  "  I  thought  that  woman  would  some- 
how be  the  death  of  you  in  the  long  run." 

He  was  loyal  to  his  friend  ;  but  he  admitted 
at  last,  what  he  had  striven  to  banish  from  his 
thoughts  time  and  again. 

"  You  must  not  leave  them,"  cried  the  elder 
of  the  two  girls,  despairingly.  "  You  shall  not 
leave  them  like  this !  Just  imagine  what  they 
will  think  of  us,  when  they  find  that  we  have 
driven  off  and  left  them." 

But,  perhaps,  after  all— for  she  was  only 
human — there  was  only  one  whose  good  opin- 
ion she  now  valued  :  for  towards  the  other  she 
experienced  a  growing  feeling  of  distrust  and 
bitterness. 

The  younger  sister  in  turn  added  her  appeals. 

But  Jack  Holmes  was  adamant  for  once ;  he 


2o6         XLbc  Devil's  plaggcounO. 

turned  the  horses'  heads,  and  giving  them  a 
loose  rein,  drove  over  the  sloping  bench  in  a 
manner  that  was  more  perilous  than  pleasant. 

Jack  Holmes  thought — judging  by  the  rather 
ominous  looks  of  the  two  girls,  that  it  would  be 
as  well  that  he  should  justify  his  action,  and 
said — 

"  Their  only  hope  is  in  our  being  able  to 
bring  them  help.  You  must  recollect  that  no 
one  knew  exactly  where  we  were  going.  Had 
we  remained  in  the  valley  we  would  most  likely 
have  got  snowed  in  without  any  likelihood  of 
getting  out.  Wrap  these  rugs  round  you,  and 
lie  down  in  the  bottom  of  the  rig,  for  here  it 
comes ! " 

And,  with  a  rush  that  was  appalling  in  its 
suddenness,  the  full  force  of  the  blizzard  was 
upon  them.  Luckily  their  course  did  not  lie  in 
the  face  of  it :  for  it  would  have  been  impos- 
sible for  any  living  thing  to  have  made  head- 
way against  it.  It  struck  them  sideways,  and 
the  horses  staggered  and  cowered  for  an 
instant,  and  the  wagon  swayed ;  but  Holmes, 
plying  the  whip,  and  shouting  to  them  at  the 
top  of  his  voice,  rallied  them.  In  another 
second  they  bounded  away  at  headlong  speed 
down  the  sloping  bench.  Perhaps  they  had  not 
received  the  full  fury  of  the  blizzard  as  yet,  or 
they  would  have  surely  perished  on  that  exposed 
plateau. 

Tally-ho !  Yo-icks !  The  hunting-field  in 
the  Old  Country  is  an  exciting  place,  truly :  one 


^be  asU33atO.  207 

wants  a  spice  of  danger  to  give  zest  to  the 
tameness  and  insipidity  of  an  advanced  and 
leisured  civilization.  But  a  run  for  life  w^ith  a 
blizzard  on  a  trackless  and  exposed  plateau  ! — 

I/isss — s — za — / — ss/i — 

Holmes  had  slipped  on  his  mitts,  and  had 
taken  the  course  of  a  slight  declivity,  that  be- 
came as  it  descended  a  slight  couUee,  which  he 
knew  led  ultimately  toward  the  great  cut-bank 
and  strip  of  timber  in  Wild  Horse  Creek,  and 
which  he  strove  to  win.  The  girls  did  as  they 
were  bid,  and  lay  down  in  the  bottom  of  the 
wagon.  Holmes  bowed  his  head,  and  stole  an 
occasional  glance  in  the  direction  in  which  they 
were  traveling ;  but  now  the  scurrying,  blind- 
ing snow  made  it  impossible  to  see  more  than  a 
few  yards  ahead  of  him.  It  was  a  dangerous 
ride  :  the  horses  knowing  by  former  experiences 
that  they  were  making  for  shelter,  and,  mad- 
dened by  the  stinging,  icy  blast,  tore  onwards 
at  headlong  speed.  Several  times  the  wagon 
struck  sharp  boulders  of  rock  which  protruded 
from  the  ground,  and  there  would  be  a  sharp, 
sickening  concussion  :  the  wagon  would  sway 
wildly  for  a  minute  or  two — would  something 
give,  or  the  wagon  capsize  ?  Then  it  would 
right  itself,  rattle  onwards  on  its  perilous  career 
again,  and  they  would  breath  more  freely. 
Sometimes  the  wind  was  so  strong,  and  the 
snow  so  blinded  and  choked  him,  that  Holmes 
groaned  in  very  agony  of  spirit,  and  thought  it 
was  all  up  with  him.     Then  he  would  think   of 


2o8  ^be  WcviVs  pla^grounO. 

the  two  inexperienced  and  helpless  girls  who 
lay  huddled  in  the  bottom  of  the  wagon  ;  and 
the  thought  would  flash  across  his  mind,  that 
their  lives  depended  upon  his  bearing  up. 
Then,  choking  and  gasping  for  breath,  he  would 
rouse  himself  to  a  fresh  endeavor. 

And  now  the  slight  hollow  became  a  coullee  ; 
the  broken  ground,  and  the  snow  drifting  into 
it,  somewhat  impeded  their  progress ;  but  the 
two  game  bronchos  plunged  gallantly  on.  An- 
other fifteen  minutes  of  a  steady  run  down  a 
grassy  bottom,  and  Holmes  began  to  wonder  if 
by  any  chance  he  had  missed  Wild  Horse  Creek, 
the  timber  and  high  cut-bank,  when  suddenly 
the  horses  came  to  a  dead  stop.  It  was  the 
creek ;  Holmes  jumped  out  and  reconnoitered 
as  far  as  he  dared.  Finding  that  he  could  cross 
the  dry  bed  of  the  creek  with  but  little  trouble, 
he  climbed  into  the  wagon  again,  and  struggled 
across  with  the  horses.  Then  he  thought  there 
seemed  to  be  a  slight  lull  in  the  severity  of  the 
storm,  and  lifting  up  his  head  he  could  see  the 
great,  dim  outlines  of  trees  looming  up  ahead 
of  him,  like  spectres  through  a  mist.  He  drove 
the  horses  through  the  dense  undergrowth  and 
among  the  trees.  The  wind  seemed  to  have 
fallen  somewhat.  Suddenly  he  discovered  the 
cause  of  it.  He  was  confronted  by  a  great  wall 
of  clay,  and  could  discern  a  black  seam  running 
through  it,  which  he  knew  was  coal. 

"  It  is  Wild  Horse  Creek,  anyhow,"  he  cried 
aloud,  regardless  as  to  whether  the  others  could 


XLbe  :fi3lf33arD.  209 

hear  him  or  not.  "  We  can  choose  a  sheltered 
spot  and  wait  until  the  blizzard  lifts.  It  can- 
not be  more  than  a  few  miles  from  camp  at  the 
most.  They  are  sure  to  come  down  the  creek 
in  search  of  us.  It  would  be  worse  than  mad- 
ness to  proceed  a  foot  further  at  present,  for  I 
don't  know  exactly  where  we  are  ;  and  we 
might  only  be  straying  further  from  camp." 

He  followed  round  the  foot  of  the  cliff  for 
about  a  hundred  yards  or  so,  and  finding  a  well- 
sheltered  nook,  unhitched  the  horses  and  tied 
them  up  to  trees.  There  was  a  dense  grove  of 
maples  close  to  the  cliff,  and  wheeling  the 
wagon  close  up  to  it,  and  with  the  aid  of  a  toma- 
hawk, he  soon  m.ade  a  tolerably  good  camping 
ground.  He  then  lifted  out  the  two  girls,  and 
prepared  to  make  the  best  of  things  until  the 
storm  lifted. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  GRIM  TWIN  SHADOWS. 

It  was  the  worst  blizzard,  and  lasted  longer 
than  any  that  ever  had  been  known  within  the 
memory  of  man — that  is  the  red  man,  for  the 
number  of  years  the  whites  had  been  in  the 
country  could  be  counted  on  one's  fingers. 
The  losses,  so  far  as  stock  was  concerned,  were 
bad  enough.  But  as  for  human  life,  to  many  a 
family  that  year  is  fraught  with  sorrowful  mem- 
ory. For  two  days  had  the  blizzard  raged 
without  intermission,  and  it  was  impossible  for 
search  parties  to  organize  or  venture  out  after 
the  missing  ones.  Those  who  were  in  com- 
parative safety  could  only  sit  inactive  by  the 
stove,  and  chafe  over  the  harrowing  knowledge 
that  every  minute  was  increasing  the  miseries 
of  those  who  were  missing,  and  lessening  the 
chances  of  their  being  found  alive. 

In  the  camp,  on  Wild  Horse  Creek,  which  the 
unlucky  picnickers  had  left  on  that  eventful 
morning,  were  Tredennis,  Cousin  Ned,  Rey- 
nolds, and  Briggs ;  the  first-named  three  hav- 
ing been  fortunate  enough  to  make  the  camp 
on  the  approach  of  the  storm.     When  Treden- 


XLbe  (3clm  Zxoin  SbaDows.         211 

nis  had  returned  and  found  that  the  picnic 
party  had  not  turned  up,  he  prepared  to  start 
right  out  after  them  regardless  of  the  storm. 
But  here,  Reynolds  asserted  his  superior  experi- 
ence. He  pointed  out  the  foolhardiness  of  the 
attempt,  and  showed  how  the  hope  of  the  ulti- 
mate recovery  of  the  party  depended  on  them 
conserving  their  strength,  and  being  prepared 
for  prolonged  exertion  as  soon  as  the  opportu- 
nity permitted.  To  go  out  then,  would  only  be 
to  get  lost  themselves  and  delay  matters  still 
more.  Tredennis  allowed  himself  to  be  in- 
fluenced, but  still  chafed  over  the  delay.  Being 
one  of  those  undemonstrative  men  who  suffer 
in  silence,  his  attempts  to  control  his  impatience 
were  piteous  to  witness. 

Ere  the  storm  had  attained  its  height,  three 
Indians,  riding  and  leading  pack-horses,  rode 
right  on  to  the  camp.  They  had  evidently  just 
come  off  the  open  prairie,  and  were  searching 
as  best  they  could  for  suitable  shelter.  It  was 
hard  to  say  whether  the  Indians,  or  the  white 
men  were  the  more  surprised  at  thus  meeting 
each  other.  When  the  dusky  sons  of  the  prairie 
— they  were  Cree  Indians  returning  from  a 
horse-stealing  expedition,  and  had  cached  their 
horses — had  satisfied  themselves  that  it  was  not 
a  Mounted  Police  camp  they  had  struck,  they 
pitched  a  tepee,  as  well  as  they  could,  right 
alongside  that  of  the  white  man's,  with  far-see- 
ing views  of  a  mercenary  nature.  Reynolds, 
who  knew  sufficient  of  the  Cree  language  to  be 


2t2  G^be  2)evir0  IPlaisgrounO. 

able  to  converse  freely  with  them,  told  how  that 
certain  of  their  party  were  lost,  and  after  con- 
ferring with  Tredennis,  made  an  arrangement 
by  which,  for  certain  considerations,  they  should 
as  soon  as  the  blizzard  abated,  assist  them  in 
their  search  for  the  missing  ones.  These  intelli- 
gent children  of  Nature  straightway  drew  their 
snow-shoes  from  their  packs,  and  started  in  to 
construct  a  couple  of  spare  pairs.  It  was  a 
revelation  to  Tredennis,  and  showed  him  more 
plainly  than  anything  could  have  done,  how 
uncertain  the  climate  was  considered  by  those 
who  knew  it  best. 

All  that  night,  and  all  next  day  the  blizzard 
raged.  Once  Reynolds  had  gone  out  to  have  a 
look  at  the  horses.  But  he  had  not  gone  five 
yards  from  the  tents,  when  he  found  the  force 
of  the  blizzard  so  great  that  he  could  not  make 
any  headway  against  it  whatever,  so,  blinded 
and  choking,  he  returned  to  the  tent. 

In  the  cave  on  the  terrace  that  overhung  the 
Devil's  Playground  there  was  darkness  and 
stillness,  while  the  blizzard  raged  outside. 
True,  the  man  and  woman  who  occupied  it 
were  for  the  time  being  safe ;  but  still  they 
could  not  conceal  from  themselves  the  fact,  that 
perhaps  they  had  been  only  saved  from  a  sud- 
den death,  to  perish  miserably  by  a  more  pain- 
ful and  lingering  one.  Travers  had  explored 
the  several  rambling  passages  that  branched 
from  the  cave  in  various  directions  ;  but  they 
all,  after  winding  about,  ended  in  a  blank  wall 


^be  0rlm  Q^wln  SbaDows.         213 

of  clay.  He  realized  then,  that  they  were  as 
completely  cut  off  from  all  communication  with 
the  outside  world  as  it  were  possible  for  two 
persons  to  be.  When  he  returned  to  Mrs.  Tre- 
dennis,  he  found  her  sitting  on  a  boulder  of  clay. 
She  looked  up  quickly,  and  as  well  as  she 
could  in  the  dim  light,  looked  into  his  eyes. 
He,  somehow,  turned  uneasily  from  her,  though 
he  tried  hard  to  assume  an  easy  manner.  It 
was  she  who  first  broke  the  silence. 

"  You  have  come  back  to  report  that  we  have 
been  caught  in  a  trap,"  she  said,  quietly. 
"  You  need  not  be  afraid  to  tell  me  that.  The 
only  thing  that  troubles  me  as  yet  is  the 
thought  of  those  poor  girls  ;  in  fact,  and  you 
need  not  gainsay  it,  I  was  the  means  of  bring- 
ing you  all  here.  I  seem  to  bring  nothing  but 
misfortune  to  my  friends."  She  added  this 
speech  as  if  it  were  an  afterthought,  and  spoke 
it  bitterly.  Dick  observed  that  she  rubbed  her 
two  hands  weakly  together,  as  if  she  had  tried 
to  infuse  some  warmth  into  them.  He  sprang 
to  her  side. 

"  You  must  not  risk  frost-bite,"  he  said, 
gently  ;  "  give  me  your  hands." 

He  took  her  hands  between  his  own  (as  it  is 
customary  to  do  when  frost-bite  is  feared),  and 
she  assented  passively.  Then  he  chafed  them 
between  his  own,  until  he  had  infused  some  de- 
gree of  warmth  into  them.  He  took  a  warm 
pair  of  mitts  from  his  breast — he  had  forgotten 
them  till  now — and  drew  them  over  her  hands. 


214  ^bc  Devil's  pla^grounO. 

"  Luckily  I  took  the  Scotsman's  advice,"  he  re- 
marked.    "  Now  give  me  your  feet." 

Tenderly  and  reverently,  as  a  husband  or  a 
brother  would  have  done,  he  unlaced  her  ankle 
boots,  and  taking  them  off,  made  her  chafe 
them,  to  restore  the  circulation  of  the  blood. 
She  had  held  them  out  to  him,  one  after  an- 
other. There  was  no  trace  of  embarrassment, 
or  mock  modesty  in  her  manner  :  she  was  simple 
and  childlike  in  her  obedience  to  him.  He 
drew  a  pair  of  thick  woollen  socks  over  those 
she  wore,  and  was  about  to  draw  a  pair  of 
moccasins  over  them,  when  she  gently  put  out 
her  hands  and  prevented  him. 

"No,  Dick,"  she  said,  firmly;  "if  you  have 
adopted  precautions  that  other  people  laughed 
at,  are  you  to  suffer  for  them  ?  You  shall  not 
rob  yourself  like  this  ;  my  feet  will  be  perfectly 
warm  without  these  moccasins.  You  must  put 
them  on  yourself." 

And  though  he  demurred,  and  assured  her 
that,  being  accustomed  to  the  cold,  he  had  no 
trouble  in  keeping  his  own  feet  warm,  she  was 
firm,  and  reluctantly  he  was  obliged  to  remove 
his  own  boots  and  put  them  on  himself.  He 
gently  pointed  out  to  her  the  absurdity  of  blam- 
ing herself  for  the  troubles  that  were  indepen- 
dent of  any  human  foresight.  For  a  while 
after  this  there  was  silence  in  the  cave.  It 
grew  dark,  and  instinctively  they  drew  nearer 
to  each  other. 

"  You  must  lie  down  and  trj'  to  get  some 


Zbc  (5r(m  ^win  Sba5ow0.        215 

rest,"  he  said  at  length.  "  Take  this  coat  and 
put  it  under  your  head.  No,  no," — she  had 
made  a  quick  gesture  of  dissent — "  what  I 
want  is  a  good  walk  up  and  down  this  cave, 
and  then  after  you  have  slept  I  shall  lie  down, 
and  you  can  see  that  I  do  not  sleep  too  long. 
You  understand  we  must  conserve  our  strength, 
for  we  may  need  it  all  before  we  get  out  of  this." 

"  If  ever  we  do,  Dick,"  she  remarked,  sim- 
ply. It  was  a  strange  speech  for  a  young 
woman  to  make,  and  what  struck  him  as  odd, 
was  her  remarkable  indifference  as  to  her  fate. 
She  was  keenly  alive  as  to  the  danger  in  which 
her  friends  were,  and  evidently  blamed  herself 
as  being  the  cause  of  all  the  trouble.  Dick  had 
once  got  his  head  examined  by  a  phrenologist, 
who  had  told  him  that  he  had  no  fear  of  death. 
Surely,  she  also  was  of  the  same  condition  of 
mind. 

She  did  as  she  was  told,  and  lying  down  on 
the  bare  ground— there  was  no  dry  grass  that 
they  could  pull  and  make  a  couch  of — and 
placing  his  coat  under  her  head,  prepared  to 
sleep. 

Dick  sat  still  for  a  few  minutes,  until  by  her 
stillness  he  concluded  she  was  asleep,  and  then 
paced  the  cave  backwards  and  forwards.  The 
exercise  did  him  good,  and  soon  under  its  in- 
fluence he  acquired  some  degree  of  warmth, 
and  felt  altogether  in  a  more  contented  frame 
of  mind.  He  could  now  reflect  more  clearly 
and  dispassionately  upon  the  events  of  the  last 


2i6  XLbe  Devtrs  BMa^grounO. 

twelve  hours.  He  knew,  weigh  it  in  the  most 
favorable  light  he  could,  that  if  the  storm  lasted 
— which  it  had  every  likelihood  of  doing — for 
the  next  twenty-four  hours,  they  were  doomed. 
For  even  if  he  could  escape  from  the  terrace 
by  taking  chances  and  dropping  from  some  low 
point  into  a  snow-drift,  his  strength  by  that 
time  would  be  so  reduced,  that  he  could  not 
possibly  force  his  way  through  the  deep  snow, 
and  he  must  necessarily  perish  in  it,  worn  out 
by  fatigue,  hunger,  and  exposure.  He  hoped 
that  Holmes,  who  might  have  seen  the  ap- 
proach of  the  storm,  had  driven  off  the  girls  to 
a  place  of  safety,  or  perhaps,  even,  have  re- 
gained the  camp.  He  knew  they  had  not  gone 
without  first  looking  for  him.  Presuming  that 
Tredennis,  Cousin  Ned,  and  Reynolds,  had  not 
been  themselves  caught  in  the  blizzard,  how 
could  they  possibly  find  them,  seeing  that, 
without  snow-shoes,  it  would  be  impossible  to 
pick  their  way  across  the  intervening  miles  of 
deep  snow  ?  Death,  so  far  as  simply  ceasing 
to  exist  was  concerned,  did  not  trouble  him. 
There  was  no  one  depending  on  his  existence 
for  daily  bread,  and  there  was  no  one  whose 
heart  would  be  sore  and  heavy  for  many  a 
weary  day,  because  he  was  not.  He  felt  some- 
thing akin  to  a  cynical  pleasure  in  the  very 
thought  of  this.  No,  his  had  been  a  wrecked 
life ;  one  of  those  chequered  existences  which, 
after  a  strongly  marked  and  hectic  career,  set 
in  darkness,  and  are  forgotten. 


Zbc  ©rim  Q^vvln  SbaDows,        217 

And  a  woman  had  wrecked  his  life  (for  the 
loss  of  wealth  was  a  questionable  loss  after 
all),  and  surely  it  was  a  strange  turn  in  the 
wheel  of  Fate,  that  she  who  had  wrought  this 
evil  should  perish  with  him.  It  was  a  terrible 
Nemesis,  this  living  death.  In  his  dark  mo- 
ments, during  a  reckless  career,  he  had  cursed 
her  in  his  heart.  At  times  thoughts  had  flashed 
across  his  mind — nor  is  there  any  royal  im- 
munity granted  from  evil  thoughts — which  in 
his  more  sober  moments  he  had  shuddered  to 
think  himself  capable  of.  He  had  thought  that 
to  see  her  perish  miserably,  even  if  he  had  to 
perish  with  her,  would  be  some  consolation  to 
his  outraged  sense  of  honor.  Strange,  is  it  not 
that  such  wishes  are  sometimes  gratified  ?  It 
was  a  remarkable  series  of  events  that  had 
thrown  them  together  again  ;  and  though  he 
knew  that  she  deserved  his  contempt,  and  that 
a  cool  restraint  ought  to  characterize  his  rela- 
tions with  her,  still  the  old  spell  was  too  power- 
ful for  him.  Like  a  drunkard,  that  loathes  the 
chains  he  himself  forges,  and  which  drag  him 
down  to  death,  he  had  whispered  her  name 
with  a  fond  desire,  in  the  same  breath  as  he 
had  cursed  her. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  covet  thy  neighbor's  wife." — 
By  the  sacred  and  unwritten  law  of  man  she 
ought  to  have  been  his.  If  she  had  sold  herself 
to  Tredennis,  and  something  in  her  manner  told 
him  she  had,  was  the  venal  law  to  triumph  over 
a  higher  code,  and  prevent  him  from  possessing 


2iS         ^be  DevU'a  iPla^grounD. 

that,  which  by  God's  law  of  natural  selection 
ought  to  have  been  his?  Perhaps  he  had  been 
stronger  than  he  had  deemed  himself.  Probably 
the  natural  inherent  qualities  of  the  man — the 
true  man  in  him — had  been  too  powerful  for 
these  enervating  moral  thoughts.  He  was  no 
hero,  but  he  had  wrestled  manfully  with  them. 
As  it  was,  so  far  as  man's  social  laws  were  con- 
cerned, he  had  in  no  way  violated  them.  He 
could  meet  that  husband,  whom  he  had  learned 
for  his  many  good  qualities  to  respect,  with  a 
conscience  comparatively  clear.  Evil  thoughts 
are  sinful,  says  the  bigot.  No  battle,  no  victory, 
is  the  reply. 

As  to  his  ultimate  fate,  it  somehow  did  not 
interest  him  as  he  had  imagined  it  would.  He 
had  faced  death  in  various  forms  before  in  his 
wild  latter  life,  and  even  indulged  in  a  strange 
vein  of  speculation  on  its  contingencies.  He 
was  not  superstitious,  but  looking  upon  the  im- 
pending tragedy  in  the  light  of  a  retributive  act 
of  justice,  he  knew  that  it  was  by  no  means 
undeserved.  If  he  had  never  neglected  the 
first  principles  of  honor  in  his  treatment  and  re- 
lations to  others,  he  had  sinned  in  that  he  had 
for  the  last  few  years  neglected,  and  wasted  that 
life  which  God  had  given  him.  He  had  not 
valued  it  as  he  ought  to  have  done,  and  it  had 
suffered  in  consequence. 

"Dick!" 

He  started,  and  roused  himself  from  the 
train  of  thought  which  he  had  been  pursuing. 


XTbc  ©rim  ^wln  SbaDows.        219 

Mrs.  Tredennis  must  have  been  asleep  for  some 
hours,  and  he  had  hardly  noticed  how  the  time 
passed. 

Had  she  called  him  ?  Or  was  it  only  one  of 
those  realistic  tricks,  the  taxed  brain  will  some- 
times play  itself.  Shipwrecked  sailors,  men 
lost  in  the  bush,  fever  patients,  can  all  tell 
strange  stories  regarding  such  mysterious 
voices. 

But  she  was  awake,  and  rose  to  her  feet, 

"  Have  you  had  a  good  sleep  ?  "  he  asked 
her  cheerily,  by  way  of  breaking  the  stillness 
that  seemed  to  be  an  actual  presence  in  the 
cave. 

"  Yes  ;  and  now  you  must  lie  down.  It  is  not 
nearly  so  cold  as  I  thought  it  would  be— what  a 
comfortable  pillow  this  coat  makes." 

"  I  am  glad  you  liked  it.  It  is  still  snowing, 
but  if  it  stops  let  me  know  at  once,  otherwise, 
you  need  not  mind  cooking  breakfast  till  I  get 
up.     There  will  be  lots  of  time  then." 

It  was  a  ghastly  joke,  though  its  intention 
was  good,  and  she  laughed  pleasantly.  One 
not  conversant  with  the  circumstances,  would 
never  have  imagined  that  it  hinged  upon  a 
matter  of  life  or  death.  Dick  lay  down,  and  in 
a  few  minutes  was  fast  asleep. 

When  he  awoke  some  hours  later  there  was 
a  dusky  twilight  in  the  cave,  and  he  felt  some- 
what cold  and  stiff.  He  saw  with  but  little  sur- 
prise that  the  snow  still  fell  heavily,  though  the 
extreme  force  of  the  wind  had  somewhat  abated. 


220         Zbc  Devil's  ipla^grounO. 

Mrs.  Tredennis  sat  opposite  him,  and  though 
she  regarded  him  with  a  smile  upon  her  face,  he 
could  see  that  her  eyes  were  troubled,  and  that 
serious  thoughts  had  left  their  impress  on  her 
face. 

"  Good-morning,"  she  said,  with  a  quiet 
humor,  "  will  you  have  your  breakfast  now,  or 
will  you  wait  until  the  cook  gets  up  ?  " 

"  Thanks,  my  appetite  is  hardly  good  enough 
at  present,"  he  answered,  trying  to  treat  the 
subject  in  a  like  vein,  "anyhow,  I  fear  that  what 
we  have  in  the  larder  has  not  been  improved 
by  the  hot  weather." 

He  tried  to  assume  a  cheerful  appearance, 
but  the  sight  of  her  pale  face  somewhat  spoiled 
the  effect.  He  rose  and  went  to  the  mouth  of 
cave. 

It  is  impossible  to  see  more  than  a  few  yards," 
he  said  ;  "  it  would  be  foily  to  attempt  it ;  one 
would  be  lost  before  going  fifty  yards." 

He  knew  that  to  have  attempted  to  find  his 
way  back  to  the  camp,  through  that  blizzard, 
would  simply  have  been  to  sacrifice  all  hope  of 
rescue  for  her  ;  for  he  must  surely  have  perished 
in  it.  True,  it  did  not  matter  about  his  own 
life,  but,  considered  as  a  means  of  saving 
another — however  worthless  he  might  consider 
that  life — it  was  his  duty  to  avoid  risking  it. 
For,  contradictory  as  it  might  appear,  his  re- 
searches after  the  truth  had  taught  him  that 
man  was  a  responsible  being,  and  owed  a  duty 
towards  his  fellow  man. 


Zbc  6rim  tTwin  SbaOows.         221 

After  all,  his  estimate  of  the  evil  he  had 
thought  himself  capable  of,  was  much  in  excess 
of  his  fitness  or  inclination  to  see  it  accomplished. 
Pitifully  human  though  he  was  in  many  things, 
he  had  still  a  heart  that  could  find  no  solace  in 
a  selfish  and  blind  revenge. 

******* 

Morning  became  mid-day,  mid-day  became 
afternoon,  and  the  afternoon  rounded  towards 
evening  again,  and  still  the  snow  fell — drifting 
down  in  one  dense  cloud,  which  shut  out  even 
the  terrace  from  sight,  and  made  a  twilight  in 
the  cave. 

As  the  day  wore  on,  the  want  of  all  food, 
which,  during  the  excitement  of  the  first  few 
hours  had  not  troubled  them,  now  exerted  its 
influence,  and  they  began  to  feel  its  overpower- 
ing effect  upon  mind  and  body.  In  the  morn- 
ing, to  avoid  thinking  too  seriously  about  the 
privations  that  they  would  experience  during 
the  coming  day,  they  had  even  made  painful 
jokes  at  their  own,  and  each  other's  expense ; 
but  now,  although  the  spirit  was  willing,  the 
flesh  was  weak.  Dick  could  not  but  admire  the 
spirit  of  this  woman,  the  very  vigor  of  whose 
health  he  knew  must  cause  her  to  feel  the 
deprivation  keenly,  but  yet,  who  never  for  a 
moment  murmured  or  complained,  but  tried  by 
her  cheerful  example  to  draw  the  thoughts  of 
her  companion  from  the  grim  shadows  that 
hovered  over  them.  Still  things  physical  will 
influence  the  tendency  of  one's  thoughts,  and 


222  ^be  Devil's  iPIaggrounD. 

Dick,  partly  because  the  reminiscences  were 
called  up  vividly  to  his  mind  by  the  circum- 
stances of  the  present,  related  to  her  an  expe- 
rience he  once  had  in  Northern  Queensland. 

It  w^as  in  '83,  in  the  western  portion  of  the 
comparatively  unknown  and  unexplored  Gulf 
of  Carpentaria  country,  and  Dick  was  with  a 
party  which  had  been  searching  for  grazing 
country,  and  was  now  on  its  way  down  to  the 
coast,  to  meet  a  vessel  which  by  prearrange- 
ment  was  to  replenish  their  supplies.  They 
had  been  traveling  on  a  gushet  of  land  between 
two  great  rivers — the  Abel  Tasman  and  the 
Robinson — when  the  wet  season  suddenly 
came  on,  and  they  were  hemmed  in  and  sur- 
rounded by  miles  of  flooded  country.  It  was  a 
terrible  mockery ;  some  few  weeks  before,  they 
had  been  dying  of  thirst,  but  with  no  lack  of 
food  ;  but  now  they  were  in  danger  of  being 
drowned,  and  had  run  out  of  all  rations.  The 
large  game  had  taken  to  the  ranges  ;  the  floods 
would  not  allow  the  fish  to  ascend  the  now 
overflowing  rivers ;  the  mob  of  blacks  with 
them — which  required  considerable  watching — 
had  cleaned  out  the  opossums  and  other  small 
game  on  the  island  on  which  they  were ;  and 
their  small  shot  had  run  out.  An  occasional 
parrot  and  iguana  was  their  scanty  bill  of  fare. 
Sometimes  these,  with  the  addition  of  a  handful 
of  flour,  and  made  into  a  sort  of  soup,  were  all 
there  was  to  support  life  for  a  whole  day, 
amongst  some  half  dozen  men.    Then  they  got 


^be  (3rlm  tTwln  SbaDows.        223 

down  to  snakes,  and  after  a  struggle  Dick 
managed  to  reconcile  himself  to  them,  and  even 
to  consider  himself  lucky  when  the  blacks 
would  bring  in  an  extra  big  one,  and  he  would 
get  a  few  extra  ounces  of  its  flesh.  And  then 
these,  too,  began  to  get  scarce.  The  name  of 
one  of  his  comrades  was  Tom  Hume,  an  Edin- 
burgh man,  who  had  been  a  sailor  in  his  time  ; 
a  man  of  rough  exterior,  but  who  was  warm- 
hearted withal.  He  was  an  incorrigible  wag, 
and  spared  nothing  and  no  one  when  he  saw  a 
chance  of  perpetrating  his  little  joke. 

About  this  time,  as  starving  men  will,  they 
began  to  be  irritable  and  fanciful ;  starvation 
and  anxiety  had  done  their  work,  and  they 
began  to  eye  each  other  suspiciously.  Hume, 
taking  advantage  of  Dick's  verdancy,  and 
knowing  that  that  individual  must  have  as  a 
boy  read  his  share  of  cannibalistic  literature  : 
such  as  the  deeds  perpetrated  by  shipwrecked 
crews,  etcetera,  called  him  aside,  and  imparted 
the  following  advice  with  an  air  of  great 
secrecy — 

"Look  here,  Dick,  I've  just  got  a  hint  that 
one  of  us  has  to  hand  in  his  checks — to  save 
the  lives  of  the  others.  Now,  if  I  have  to  hand 
out  the  '  long  straws  and  the  short,'  when  I 
come  to  you,  take  the  inside  straw!  If  old 
MacLeod  is  the  man  who  has  to  be  sacrificed, 
take  my  advice  and  don't  touch  him — starve, 
like  a  man,  instead.  He's  so  full  of  Queens- 
land rum,  that  any  one  making   a  meal  of   him, 


224         ^be  Devil's  pla^grounO. 

will  acquire  such  a  taste  for  booze  that  his  life 
will  be  a  misery  to  him  for  ever  afterwards." 

Dick  said  in  conclusion  with  a  short  laugh — 

"  The  best  of  it  was,  that  judging  from  the 
very  decided  partiality  poor  Tom  had  for  the 
product  of  the  sugar-cane,  I  should  have 
imagined  that  he  had  helped  to  dispose  of 
worse  subjects  than  poor  MacLeod  in  his 
time." 

It  was  hardly  the  sort  of  a  story  that  a  man 
would  tell  a  lady  under  ordinary  circumstances. 
But  on  this  occasion  it  answered  its  purpose; 
Mrs,  Tredennis  laughed  in  spite  of  the  grue- 
someness  of  the  tale. 

"And  how  did  you  get  out  of  your  fix?" 
she  inquired,  resting  her  chin  upon  her  hand, 
and  regarding  Dick  curiously.  "  Had  you  to 
sacrifice  poor  old  MacLeod  ?  " 

"Oh,  no,"  Dick  rejoined;  "one  of  the  men 
swam  the  river,  fetched  across  a  horse,  and  we 
had  a  regular  picnic  then.  And  when  the  ship 
with  our  supplies  made  its  appearance  in  the 
river,  we  treated  the  crew — who  had  been  liv- 
ing on  salt  pork  for  six  weeks — to  what,  they 
declared,  were  the  finest  mutton  chops  they 
had  ever  tasted  in  their  lives." 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

WHICH    WINS. 

One — two — three  days  now ;  an  abandon- 
ment of  hope,  and  grim  Famine  setting  its  seal 
upon  the  pinched,  weary  faces  of  the  two 
doomed  beings  in  the  cave.  It  was  glorious 
prey  for  King  Death — the  young,  the  strong, 
the  beautiful.  He  had  them  so  securely  that 
he  loved  to  linger  over  his  work,  and  note  the 
varying  aspects  of  the  unequal  struggle,  ere  the 
final  and  grand  change  came,  and  the  animate 
became  the  inanimate.  He  would  insidiously 
suggest  hope,  so  that  they  might  experience  the 
bitterness  of  disappointment. 

They  had  borne  the  first  pangs  of  hunger 
and  exposure,  with  a  cheerfulness  that  only 
those  who  are  fashioned  in  the  mould  of  heroes 
can  assume.  As  their  sufferings  became 
greater,  and  their  waking  moments  were  full  of 
a  dull  agony ;  still  they  never  once  murmured, 
but  bore  up  with  unwavering  fortitude.  Only 
when  sleep  came  in  her  mercy  to  them,  did 
they  have  moments  of  forgetfulness.  Then, 
their  thoughts  strayed  away  from  that  forlorn, 
snow-clad,  desolate  landscape,  and   they   lived 


226         Zbc  Devil's  ipla^grounO, 

in  a  land  of  peace  and  plenty :  of  green,  sunny 
fields,  and  shady  meadows — Old-Country 
meadows,  whose  beauties  only  those  who  have 
lived  and  suffered  in  the  dark  places  of  the 
earth  can  fully  realize. 

At  times  they  had  the  hallucinations  which 
come  to  those  in-  delirium  and  the  dying :  when 
the  present  and  the  immediate  past  were  ut- 
terly effaced,  and  in  spirit  they  lived  the  happy 
days  of  childhood  over  again.  When  they  saw, 
and  spoke  with  those  dear  ones  who  had  long 
since  passed  away,  without  the  slightest  con- 
sciousness of  loss.  Trivial  incidents  and  scenes 
of  childhood,  that  had  long  since  been  forgotten, 
came  back  with  all  the  freshness  and  vividness 
of  reality.  There  were  no  such  things  as  the 
stern  and  worldly  cares  that  come  with  the 
growing  years,  to  dispel  the  tender  dreams  of 
youth  and  purity,  to  dim  the  speaking  eye,  and 
furrow  the  fair  brow.  Oh  !  the  difference,  be- 
tween Now  and  Then ! 

And  those  voices  in  the  air :  those  phantom 
voices — whence  came  they  ?  Now.  it  was  as  if 
they  heard  a  peal  of  marriage  bells  floating  in 
the  still  air.  Now,  it  was  as  if  they  came  from 
the  old  church  on  the  hilltop,  and  they  were 
ringing  out  the  dying  year  and  heralding  the 
new.  And  then,  as  if  with  some  subtle  sense 
of  the  irony  of  fate,  they  were  tolling  solemnly, 
sadly,  and  slowly,  as  if  for  the  dead.  Music 
was  an  all-potent  presence  to  the  wandering 
senses  then.     At  times  they  heard  snatches   of 


Mbicb  imins.  227 

the  old,  old  familiar  airs  that  had  soothed  and 
sent  them  to  sleep  as  children.  What  a  rush 
of  sacred  memories  came  with  these  old  airs  ! 
Then,  it  was  the  clear  voice  of  a  soprano,  like  a 
silver  thread  running  through  a  brocade  of  gold, 
as  it  rose  in  some  soul-inspiring  anthem.  There 
were  voices  that  they  knew  well ;  and  voices 
that  they  had  forgotten,  but  they  peopled  the 
air  and  called  on  them  by  name,  and  were  none 
the  less  real  to  their  wearied  senses. 

It  was  early  morn,  and  Dick  Travers  sat 
with  a  set,  preoccupied  face,  looking  out  upon 
the  gloom,  and  the  snow  that  still  drifted  at 
intervals  into  the  cave ;  he  could  now  dis- 
tinguish Mrs.  Tredennis,  who  was  lying  on  the 
other  side  opposite  him,  her  face  now  looking 
thin  and  wasted,  resting  upon  that  old  coat, 
which  he  would  insist  upon  her  using.  She  was 
asleep;  it  did  not  look  much  like  the  face  of 
one  to  whom  death  was  an  agony,  for  her  lips 
were  slightly  parted  and  there  was  a  smile  upon 
them. 

But  her  face  wavered  in  the  uncertain  light, 
and  the  smile  vanished  ;  a  kaleidoscopic  flash 
of  broken    thoughts    and    ideas  in  his   weary 

brain,  and  then 

******* 

Noon,  in  a  tropical  Australian  forest,  with  a 
burnished  sun  set  in  a  cloudless  sky  of  blue.  A 
stockman's  hut  peeping  from  a  dense  mass  of 
greenery,  with  its  bark  roof,  and  overshadowed 
by    giant-trees    from    whose    branches   great 


228         XLbc  Devil's  iPla^grounO. 

wreaths  of  trailing  vines  covered  with  flowers 
of  purple,  and  white,  and  scarlet  hang.  There 
are  golden  wattle,  rue  Ilia  and  hybiscus  blos- 
soms. Rare  orchids  and  grotesque,  antler-like 
and  fleshy  ferns,  called,  happily,  the  "  Stag's 
Horn,"  stand  out  from  the  smooth,  white 
bark  of  the  gutxi-tree.  Among  the  interweav- 
ing boughs  are  flocks  of  showy  birds ;  there 
are  flocks  of  gaudy  parrots  and  parroquets, 
whose  plumage  flashes  in  the  sunlight  with  a 
striking  brilliancy.  There  are  not  more  colors 
on  a  butterfly's  wing  than  in  this  corner  of 
Eden. 

Noon  exactly,  and  the  sun  right  overhead  ; 
and  now  the  hitherto  noisy  screaming  of  the 
gay  birds  is  hushed,  and  there  is  a  deathly 
silence.  Even  the  insect  world  is  still ;  only  a 
peculiarly  giddy  specimen  of  the  grasshopper 
family  occasionally  forgets  itself,  and  indulges 
in  a  shrill  treble  of  piping;  but  soon  finding 
that  no  one  joins  in  the  chorus,  relapses  into 
silence  again. 

Dick  is  resting  in  the  hut  on  a  rough  bench, 
with  an  upturned  saddle  for  a  rest  behind  his 
head,  looking  out  between  waking  and  sleep- 
ing, into  the  dim  vistas  of  the  pre-Adamite 
forest. 

Thought,  that  can  circle  the  globe  while  yet 
the  magnetic  current  that  man  has  made  sub- 
servient to  his  will,  has  not  passed  from  dark- 
ness into  light,  inscrutable  are  thy  ways  !    For 


Mblcb  Wins.  229 

in  sleep,  that  is  the  image  of  death,  has  time 
and  space  been  annihilated. 

And  the  spirit  of  the  sleeper  has  passed  away 
again — thousands  of  miles  across  a  slumbering 
world,  and  over  leagues  of  sleeping  seas. 

It  is  an  Old-Country  meadow  in  the  spring- 
time ;  and  he  is  walking  with  some  one  by  his 
side,  who  has  become  dearer  to  him  than  any 
one  else  on  earth,  and  who  has  promised  to  be 
his  wife.  He  is  the  happiest  man  in  the  wide, 
wide  world,  and  there  is  not  a  cloud  on  the  sky 
of  his  happiness.  He  is  looking  into  the  face  of 
her,  in  whose  eyes  he  seems  to  see  mirrored 
purity  and  truth.  He  would  as  soon  think  of 
doubting  the  fact  of  his  own  existence  as  doubt 
her  nobility  of  soul. 

******* 

And  then  some  one  calls  him  ;  or  is  it  only 
one  of  those  mocking,  phantom  voices  ? 

Hush !  for  God's  sake,  do  not  break  the 
spell  that  will  drag  the  happy  dreamer  back  to 
the  hideous  living  death  ! 

But  the  spell  is  broken,  and  the  sleeper 
awakes ;  for  the  woman  had  called  out  in  a 
dream  the  name  of  the  man,  and  he,  as  it  were 
mechanically,  repeats  hers.  His  dream  is  shiv- 
ered, like  the  face  of  a  landscape  on  a  broken 
mirror ;  and  the  awful  present,  with  its  grim 
twin  shadows,  Famine  and  Death,  is  hovering 
over  him  ;  and  because  they  will  not  put  an  end 
to  his  suffering,  a  horror  crushes  down  upon  his 
soul.     And  this,  then,  is  the  end  of  all  things. 


230  Zbc  13)cviV6  IPlasGrounD. 

A  muddy,  wan  dawn-light  is  struggling  into 
the  cave.  Dick  rises  and  goes  over  to  where 
the  woman  is.  Within  the  last  few  days  she 
had  been  a  revelation  to  him ;  he  had  not  be- 
lieved that  it  were  possible  for  a  woman  to 
show  so  much  fortitude  under  such  straits. 
She  had  cheered  -him,  when  dark  thoughts  had 
crowded  upon  him,  as  a  helpmate  in  life  might 
have  done  ;  and  though  sometimes  there  was  a 
bitterness  in  his  thoughts  towards  her,  his  in- 
tercourse with  her  had  weakened  them.  The 
inherent  qualities  of  the  man  of  honor  within 
him  had  overmastered  a  growing  feeling — a  re- 
newal of  the  old  fire — which  he  knew  was  dan- 
gerous, for  both  of  them.  She  was  the  first  to 
speak. 

"  Good-morning,  Dick,  do  you  know,  I  was 
dreaming  about  you,"  she  said,  and  stopped,  as 
if  she  had  said  more  than  she  intended  to  say. 

"  And  I  of  you,"  he  quietly  said  ;  "  people  do  • 
dream  such  absurd  things  sometimes." 

How  petty,  how  human — pitifully  human — 
was  this  man  after  all  ! 

And  m  another  instant  he  had  cursed  him- 
self, as  he  saw  the  sudden  look  of  dumb  an- 
guish in  her  face.  Could  he  not  let  this  poor 
long-suffering  woman  be  ?  Why  should  he 
let  this  devil  within  him  move  him  with  remem- 
brances of  the  past,  just  when  he  fancied  him- 
self most  secure,  and  done  with  it  for  ever  ? 
Was  she  not  expiating  her  sin  with  her  life  ? 

He  looked  towards  the  mouth  of  the  cave, 
and  a  cry  sprang  to  his  lips. 


mbicb  Mins»  231 

The  snow  had  ceased,  and  the  atmosphere 
was  clear  as  a  summer's  day  ;  but  it  was  cold. 

In  a  second  he  was  another  man ;  and  his 
bitter,  morbid  thoughts  left  him. 

"  Mrs.  Tredennis,"  he  said,  "  we  shall  soon 
end  this  weary  waiting.  The  time  has  come 
for  me  to  do  something  ;  but  you  must  stop 
where  you  are.  I  shall  try  to  climb  the  cliff — 
once  on  the  bench  and  they  might  see  me  for 
miles  ;  they  will  be  out  searching  for  us  by  this 
time.  Now  listen  to  what  I  have  to  say :  do 
not  attempt  to  leave  this  place — at  least,  for 
several  hours  ;  if  I  am  to  get  to  the  camp  at  all 
I  shall  have  got  there  before  that  time,  and 
have  brought  or  sent  help  to  you.  Anyhow,  I 
shall  tear  some  of  the  lining  from  this  coat,  and 
place  it  out  on  the  terrace  upon  the  snow,  so 
that  any  one  on  the  brow  of  the  cliff  may  see 
it." 

He  stopped  suddenly  and  looked  into  her 
face,  and  his  breath  came  quickly.  It  was  a 
hard  thing  to  communicate  to  her  what  he  in- 
tended saying ;  for  that  old  love  of  her,  which 
for  the  last  few  days  had  been  like  a  slow  fire 
burning  within  him,  had  flared  up  for  the  min- 
ute, and  bade  fair  to  become  his  master.  He 
knew  that,  if  he  failed  in  his  attempt  to  scale 
the  cliff,  he  would  take  chances  on  his  life  by 
dropping  over  the  terrace,  and  landing  in  a 
bank  of  snow.  Anyhow,  it  was  ten  chances  to 
one  that  he  would  never  reach  the  camp.  But 
now  so  near  the  end  of  the  tragedy,  and  face  to 


232         ^be  Revive  iplasgroun&. 

face  with  Death,  he  determined  that  he  would 
be  true  to  his  better  self ;  and  perhaps  the 
Great  Judge  would  deal  more  mercifully  with 
him,  in  that  he  was  faithful  in  the  end.  He 
continued — 

"  Should  we  not  happen  to  meet  again,  I 
want  you  to  know,  that  if  there  is  anything  in 
the  past  that  you  think  requires  my  forgiveness, 
consider  it  as  disposed  of.  I  do  not  think  it  is 
presuming  too  much  on  my  part  to  say  this  ;  it 
has  not  been  done  without  thinking  well  over 
it.  I  hope  you  will  forget  the  many  cruel  and 
foolish  things  I  have  said  to  you  ;  if  you  could 
comprehend  the  state  of  mind  in  which  they 
were  uttered,  you  would  have  little  difficulty  in 
forgiving  them.  I  thought  I  was  more  of  a 
man  until  I  met  you  again.  You  must  keep 
your  spirits  up  ;  they  are  bound  to  find  you  be- 
fore long  if  I  should  happen  to  miss  them." 
And  then,  as  if  to  rob  the  nature  of  the  fare- 
well of  some  of  its  tragedy,  he  perpetrated  a 
joke  that  was  pathetic  in  its  very  littleness— he 
reminded  her  of  what  the  rat  said,  when  it  left 
its  tail  in  the  trap,  about  the  best  of  friends 
parting. 

And  then  he  said  "  Good-bye." 

There  was  something  very  pathetic  in  the 
pitiable  smile  that  lit  up  her  face,  like  a  stray 
gleam  of  sunshine,  just  then. 

(Could  mortal  man  match  the  subtlety  of  the 
game  the  devil  played  now  ?) 

He  held  out  his  hand,  but  would  not  trust 
himself  to  look  at  her. 


mwcb  min3.  233 

She  took  his  hand  and  held  it  in  her  own ; 
but  she  would  not  let  it  go  ;  and  there  was  a 
light  in  her  eyes  that  he  had  seen  there  on  more 
than  one  occasion. 

"  Dick  !  "  she  cried,  in  a  voice  that  shook  as 
if  with  some  passion  that  strove  to  gain  the 
mastery  over  her,  "  I  cannot  let  you  go  like 
this.  There  is  something  that  I  thought  it 
would  be  better  for  you  never  to  know,  and 
that  I  could  have  told  you  of  when  you  came  to 
the  ranche,  but  which,  at  the  time,  I  thought 
would  be  dangerous  to  tell  you.  Be  brave  and 
hear,  for  I  must  tell  it.  As  I  swear  before  my 
Maker,  whom  I  may  have  to  meet  before  many 
hours,  I  did  not  throw  you  over  for  Tom 
Tredennis,  until  they  told  me  that  you  were 
married.  Your  letters  which  had  stopped  com- 
ing, and  other  proofs  which  they  produced, 
confirmed  me  in  what  they  said.  It  is  the  old 
story,  Dick  ;  in  a  moment  of  pique,  and  to  show 
them  how  I  could  forget  such  a  one  as  you — 
though  you  had  broken  my  heart— I  married 
Tredennis.  He  had  no  hand  in  the  frauds 
that  were  practised  on  me,  nor  do  I  believe  that 
he  even  knew  of  your  existence.  He  was  the 
'  desirable  party  '  that  my  people  wanted  me  to 
marry,  and  I  married  him.  When  I  met  you, 
and  saw  how  you  had  been  wronged,  and  not 
the  wrongdoer,  I  felt  that  I  could  not  trust  you 
to  know  the  truth  ;  I  could  hardly  trust  myself. 
Now,  you  know  why  I  kept  this  from  you. 
Let  the  truth  make  no  difference  to  us  now  ; 


234         Zbc  HJevH's  pla^grounD. 

only,  perhaps,  think  of  me  with  more  of  pity 
than  of  anger — I  was  to  blame,  in  that  I  ought 
to  have  known  you  better.  For  heaven's  sake, 
go,  and  I  will  pray  for  you  !  " 

Like  a  man  who  has  been  blind  for  years, 
and  suddenly  beholds  the  light  of  day,  he  stood 
dazed,  and  as  if  he  could  not  believe  the  evi- 
dence of  his  own  senses. 

Of  such  are  the  supreme  moments  in  our  lives 
— for  good  or  evil. 

Then  the  full  light  of  the  truth  flashed  upon 
him.  He  knew  now  the  reason  of  her  strange 
conduct,  and  why  she  had  not  hesitated  to  release 
her  hold  upon  him  when  they  were  slipping 
over  the  cliff  together. 

It  was  more  than  poor,  weak,  mortal  man 
could  bear.  Honor,  and  the  high  moral  stand- 
point he  had  taken  up,  were  flung  to  the  winds. 
He  took  one  step  towards  her,  and,  taking  her 
unresisting  form  in  his  arms,  clasped  her  to  his 
breast,  and  pressed  his  lips  again  and  again 
upon  her  fevered  cheek. 

Surely,  it  was  something  more  than  human 
that  came  to  his  aid  just  then.  He  released 
her,  and  staggered  back.  How  had  he  sunk  so 
low  !     Where  was  the  7nan  in  him  now  ? 

"  May  God  forgive  me  for  what  I  have  done. 
I  am  a  villain  after  all,"  he  cried,  in  a  broken 
voice. 

But  there  was  no  resentment  in  the  voice  or 
on  the  face  of  the  woman  as  she  said — 

"  May  God  forgive   us  both,  Dick.     Perhaps, 


IClbicb  mins.  235 

if  we  are  spared,  we  will  lead  better  lives  for 
having  passed  through  this.  But  let  us  make 
sure  of  it :  let  us  make  a  compact  right  now — 
that,  if  we  get  out  of  this  alive,  we  will  rise 
superior  to  our  pasts ;  and  that  we  will  make 
our  old  love  a  stepping-stone  to  something 
higher  and  nobler.  I  wronged  you  in  thinking 
that  you  could  not  bear  the  truth — it  was  judg- 
ing you  by  my  own  standard." 

"  I  can  bear  the  truth,"  he  said  ;  "  what  I 
could  not  bear  was  the  thought  that  you  could 
be  false  to  me." 

And  these  two  hard-pressed  and  weary  mor- 
tals, who  stood  face  to  face  with  Death — whose 
lives  had  been  separated  and  wrecked  by  a 
cruel  fate,  and  with  only  the  unseen  eye  of  the 
Omniscient  to  witness  it — proved  the  nobility  of 
Man,  whom  God  has  made  after  His  own  image. 

She  held  out  her  hand  to  him,  and  reverently 
he  carried  it  to  his  lips,  and  left  the  cave. 

Death  could  do  its  worst  now — they  had 
saved  their  immortal  souls. 

And  who  will  say  that  there  is  no  good  in 
human  nature  after  all  ? 

******* 

Jack  Holmes,  and  the  two  Miss  Daltons  had 
fared  somewhat  differently  from  their  two  com- 
panions, whom  they  had  left  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  Devil's  Playground.  They  had 
good,  warm  buffalo  robes  which  would  keep  out 
any  degree  of  cold  ;  and  the  picnic  baskets, 
under    the   generalship   of   Miss   Dalton,  kept 


236         ^be  Pevil's  iPla^grounD. 

them  from  feeling  the  pangs  of  hunger.  But 
still,  every  bite  of  food  they  took,  reminded 
them  of  those  who  might  at  that  very  moment 
be  perishing  miserably  for  want  of  it ;  so  that, 
upon  the  whole,  they  were  not  so  reconciled  to 
an  impending  fate,  as  those  who  were  in  greater 
danger  and  suffered  more. 

On  the  second  day,  however,  the  two  horses 
broke  loose,  and,  traveling  up  the  creek,  struck 
the  camp  where  Tredennis  and  the  others  were. 
These  individuals,  happening  to  look  out,  and 
seeing  the  horses,  were  not  slow  to  arrive  at  a 
correct  conclusion. 

"  They  are  down  the  creek,"  Reynolds  said  ; 
"  the  minute  it  clears,  if  we  go  down  on  snow- 
shoes,  we  are  sure  to  find  them.  If  we  went 
just  now  we  would  only  be  getting  lost ;  besides, 
we  might  pass  within  a  few  yards  of  them  and 
not  see  them,  and  that  would  only  make  matters 
worse." 

Next  morning,  at  dawn,  the  snow  suddenly 
ceased  falling,  and  the  wind  went  down.  In 
three  minutes  the  party  was  ready,  and  it  was 
observed  that  the  practical  Reynolds  coiled  his 
lariat  around  his  body,  and  took  it  with  him. 
Briggs  was  left  in  the  camp  to  keep  on  the  fires 
and  look  after  the  horses :  and  the  others,  ac- 
companied by  the  three  Indians,  started  out. 
These  three  landed  gentry  were  remarkable  in- 
dividuals in  their  way,  and  their  names  were 
still  more  remarkable  examples — so  far  as 
nomenclature  was  concerned.     One  was  called, 


TKabicb  Mtns.  237 

as  interpreted,  "  Young  -  man  -  afraid  -  of  -  his 
grandmother  "  ;  another,  "  I-hear-him-calling  " ; 
and  the  third  rejoiced  in  the  distinction  of 
"  Crooked-legs."  They  were  true  to  the  tra- 
ditions of  their  race  in  that  they  were  stoics. 
But  still,  they  proved  themselves  human  after 
all,  when  Cousin  Ned  somewhat  hindered  the 
progress  of  the  party,  by  insisting  on  diving 
head  first  into  every  snowbank  he  came  to. 
The  toes  of  his  shoes  had  a  most  unaccountable 
predilection  for  sampling  the  drift;  indeed, 
every  now  and  again  all  that  could  be  seen  of 
the  little  man  was  a  couple  of  snow-shoes 
flourishing  in  the  air.  On  these  occasions 
"  Crooked-legs,"  and  the  man  who  was  ac- 
credited with  standing  in  fear  of  his  maternal 
relation,  would  pull  him  out  bodily  by  the  legs 
and  arms,  and  set  him  on  his  feet  again,  with 
many  a  wondering  "  Ough  !  Ough  !  " 

After  a  couple  of  hours'  travel,  the  missing 
party,  consisting  of  the  two  girls  and  Holmes, 
was  discovered  :  they  had  left  their  camp,  and 
were  making  their  way  laboriously  up  the  creek. 
They  were  little  the  worse  from  their  prolonged 
exposure,  but  were  still  in  a  sorry  plight.  "  I- 
hear-him-calling  "  was  sent  to  pilot  them  back 
to  the  main  camp  by  a  route  that  was  compara- 
tively free  of  snow,  and  which  only  an  Indian 
could  have  picked  out.  They  had  wanted  to 
go  back,  and  wait  in  their  late  camp  until  the 
rest  of  the  party  had  brought  in  the  other  two 
missing  ones,  but  Tredennis  would   not  hear  of 


238         Zbc  Devirs  ipla^grount). 

it,  and  ordered  them  back  to  the  camp.  Holmes 
pointed  out  the  direction  in  which  the  ill-fated 
valley  lay,  and,  as  Reynolds  and  the  Indians 
knew  it,  they  started  off  again. 

******* 

Another  hour,  and  the  glare  of  the  sun  was 
causing  them  some  discomfort.  They  could 
not  be  more  than  a  couple  of  miles  now  from 
the  Devil's  Playground. 

Suddenly  one  of  the  Indians  raised  a  shout, 
and  pointed  ahead  ;  there  was  a  dark  speck, 
like  a  bird,  picked  out  upon  the  dazzling  plain, 
or  bench.  What  was  it  ?  They  trudged  on  in 
a  painful  state  of  uncertainty.  Then  the  tiny 
speck  became  a  dark  object — a  bundle  of  rags 
it  might  have  been,  so  far  as  appearances  went 
— and  they  were  within  a  hundred  yards  of  it. 
They  pushed  on  with  beating  and  anxious 
hearts. 

It  was  the  figure  of  a  man — "  Dick ! "  they 
cried. 

The  heart  of  Tredennis  sank  within  him  as 
he  saw  the  figure  of  this  man,  or  corpse,  which- 
ever it  was,  lying  prostrate  on  the  snow. 
Where,  then,  was  his  wife  .-* 

Had  they  come  too  late  ? 

One  of  the  Indians  reached  the  prostrate 
figure  first,  and  raised  the  head.  It  was  a 
solemn  moment  in  the  great  silence  that  ensued. 
The  others  stopped  short  within  a  few  feet  of 
the  Indian,  and  waited  with  parted  lips,  and 
hearts  that  almost  ceased  to  beat,  to  hear  the 
dreaded  announcement. 


"'dead!'  said  TllK  SldU  '   IN   CKKE." — Page  zsq. 


■CQbicb  Timins.  239 

Oh !  the  eternity  that  can  be  compassed  in 
one  short  second  of  time  ! 

"  He   is ?  "     Tredennis   cried  ;    but    did 

not  finish  the  sentence. 

"Dead!"  said  the  stoic  in  Cree,  and  Rey- 
nolds interpreted. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

CHECKMATED. 

But  the  Indian's  keen  instincts  had  deceived 
him  for  once  ;  for  Dick  was  not  dead,  but  only 
in  a  stupor,  which  as  nearly  resembled  that  con- 
dition as  it  were  possible  to,  and  not  be  actually 
dead.  And  to  Cousin  Ned  must  be  ascribed 
the  honor  of  discovering  it.  That  individual 
having  studied  medicine  in  his  youth,  ere  riches 
came  to  him,  observing  some  signs  on  the  face 
of  Dick  that  were  not  consistent  with  death, 
took  a  step  nearer  the  body.  But,  somehow, 
his  snow-shoes  got  mixed  up  with  his  legs, 
and,  instead  of  taking  a  step  forward,  he  dived 
head  first  right  into  the  arms  of  "  Young-man- 
afraid-of-his-grandmother,"  and  bowled  that 
gentleman  over  like  a  nine-pin. 

"Ough!     Ough  !"  groaned  the  Indians. 

Truly,  Tragedy  and  Comedy  walk  side  by 
side  through  the  world. 

"  For  goodness  sake  put  a  flask  to  his  lips, 
and  chafe  his  hands,"  cried  Cousin  Ned,  ignor- 
ing the  Indians,  and  unable  to  get  there  him- 
self. They  worked  like  men  possessed,  and  in 
a  few  minutes  Dick  showed  signs  of  coming  to. 


Cbechmate^.  241 

He  opened  his  eyes  and  looked  strangely  at 
them  for  a  second  or  two,  and  then,  as  recogni- 
tion came  back  into  them,  he  cried  out  in  a 
faint  and  querulous  voice,  "  Over  the  cliff,  to 
the  left  there,  for  mercy's  sake,  hurry  up — fol- 
low my  tracks  !  "  Then  he  slipped  back  again 
into  the  realms  of  unconsciousness. 

They  left  Cousin  Ned,  and  an  Indian  with 
him,  to  bring  him  round  again,  and  chafe  his 
numbed  limbs.  The  others  followed  up  the 
tracks  for  half  a  mile  or  so,  and  came  to  the 
place  where  Dick  had  scaled  the  clifif,  overlook- 
ing the  Devil's  Playground. 

There  they  found  the  lining  of  the  coat  that 
Dick  had  been  unable  to  set  up  ;  there  being 
neither  stick  nor  stone  to  enable  him  to  do  so, 
Reynolds  stationed  Tredennis  and  the  Indian 
at  the  top  of  the  cliff — he  would  not  trust  Tre- 
dennis to  descend — and  instructing  them  to 
hold  on  to  the  end  of  the  rope,  he  flung  it  over 
the  cliff,  and  began  to  let  himself  down  by  it. 

"  How,  in  the  name  of  all  that's  wonderful, 
that  poor,  starved  Dick  ever  scaled  this  cliff," 
Reynolds  muttered,  "  is  beyond  my  com- 
prehension!  It  was  the  grit  in  the  beggar; 
that's  what  did  it !  " 

And  now,  can  any  of  those  cynics,  who  will 
take  such  significantly  narrow  and  ignoble 
views  of  human  nature,  say  how  it  is  that  some 
men  when  fighting  for  their  own  lives,  only 
make  a  feeble  and  apathetic  stand  ;  but  when 
the  lives  of  others  are  depending  on  their  ex- 


242  XTbe  SfcviVs  pla^QrounO. 

ertions,  will  fight  like  tigers,  as  long  as  there  is 
a  spark  of  life  left  in  their  bodies  ? 

Reynolds  lowered  himself  down  easily.  He 
could  see  at  one  place  where  Travers  must 
have  lost  his  hold,  and  fallen  some  considerable 
distance.  "  It  licks  me  how  the  beggar  wasn't 
killed ! "  he  muttered.  Then  he  came  to  a 
narrow  ledge,  and  traveling  along  it,  soon 
struck  the  mouth  of  the  cave.  He  saw  the 
figure  of  a  woman  sitting  by  it,  who,  when  she 
saw  him  coming,  sprang  to  her  feet,  and  totter- 
ing, sank  to  the  ground,  as  if  from  weakness. 
Her  indomitable  courage  had  held  her  up  till 
then  ;  but  the  grim  twin  shadows,  afraid  that 
their  prey  was  slipping  from  their  hands,  now 
pressed  her  hard.  To  apply  restoratives  was 
the  work  of  a  few  seconds.  When  she  opened 
her  eyes,  and  was  assured  by  Reynolds  that  the 
rest  of  the  party  were  safe,  and  that  they  had 
found  Travers,  she  seemed  to  take  fresh  heart 
and  nerved  herself  for  the  task  of  ascending  the 
cliff.  Reynolds  tied  the  rope  securely  round 
her  waist,  and  her  husband  pulled  her  to  the 
top. 

Perhaps  not  till  then  had  Mrs.  Tredennis 
properly  understood  her  husband.  To  all  ap- 
pearance he  was  only  a  man  of  ordinary  parts, 
and  undemonstrative  ;  but  then,  still  waters  run 
deep. 

Perhaps  it  was  the  inherent  loyalty  in  his 
own  heart  that  made  him  slow  to  imagine  dis- 
loyalty in   others  ;  it   is   the  jealous  man,   the 


CbecftmateO.  243 

cynic,  and  the  sickly  pessimist,  who,  judging 
others  by  their  own  standard,  are  always  seeing 
the  seamy  side  of  things. 

How  much  of  the  story  of  the  past  Mrs.  Tre- 
dennis  told  her  husband  no  chivalrous  and  sen- 
sible reader  will  care  to  know.  This  only  may 
be  said,  that  it  served  to  draw  these  closer  to- 
gether who  had  been  in  considerable  danger  of 
drifting  apart.  Moreover,  it  made  Tom  Tre- 
dennis  swear — and  he  could  do  it  in  the  most 
approved  old  English  style — that  if  his  brother- 
in-law,  who  was  a  Cabinet  Minister,  had  any 
influence  at  all,  he  would  get  a  billet  worthier 
of  the  man,  whom  he  believed  had  saved  the 
life  of  his  wife,  than  that  which  he  now  occu- 
pied. He  kept  his  word ;  and  it  was  on  the 
strength  of  this  billet  that  Dick  afterwards  took 
a  very  sensible  step. 

li:  ilfi  :^i  :^  4^  He  :Hi 

As  if  they  were  ashamed  over  their  defeat  in 
the  tragic  end  their  presiding  evil  genius  had 
meditated,  the  grim,  uncouth  monsters  in  the 
Devil's  Playground  hid  their  ugly  forms  under 
heavy  panoplies  of  snow.  They  were  now 
almost  irrecognizable  ;  but  there  was  a  sinister, 
lurking  air  about  them  all  the  same,  that  in  the 
growing  shadows  seemed  to  say,  "  You  have 
escaped  this  time,  but  wait,  our  time  will  come 
yet." 

But  it  is  extremely  unlikely  that  they  will 
ever  have  a  similar  chance  again.  They  were 
the  pawns  and  pieces  that  the  devil  played  with 


244  ^be  Devil's  BMaggrounO. 

when  he  allured  his  intended  victims  thither. 
But  he  made  too  sure  of  his  game  ;  staked  every- 
thing on  one  bold  move,  played  into  the  hands 
of  his  opponents — and  lost. 

The  return  journey  to  the  camp  was  a  slow 
and  arduous  one ;  but  the  Indians  proved  invent- 
ive geniuses.  For  when  they  arrived  at  the 
creek,  they  constructed,  with  the  aid  of  some 
boughs,  and  the  axe  and  rope  that  Reynolds 
had  brought,  a  species  of  sledge  on  which  the 
two  worn-out  ones  were  placed,  and  dragged 
them  over  the  slippery  crust  of  snow  to  the 
camp.  With  a  little  nourishment  discreetly 
administered,  Mrs.  Tredennis,  and  Dick,  were 
soon  out  of  danger,  although  weak. 

There  was,  indeed,  reason  for  congratulation 
in  the  camp ;  indeed,  it  is  vouched  for  by 
Briggs,  that  Cousin  Ned,  and  "  Young  man- 
afraid-of-his-grandmother,"  were  seen  to  go 
behind  a  tent  and  apply  their  lips,  in  succession, 
to  a  flask  containing  the  deadly  but  not  unpleas- 
ant fire-water.  They  camped  in  that  spot  for 
two  days,  before  those  who  had  suffered  in  the 
snow-storm  were  sufficiently  recovered  to  pro- 
ceed ;  and  in  that  time  a  Chinook  wind — the 
warm  wind  that  finds  its  way  over  from  the 
Pacific — had  come  and  cleared  away  the  snow 
like  magic,  making  traveling  possible  again. 

But  Dick  Travers  was  not  to  recover  quite  so 
easily ;  for  when  he  got  to  the  ranche  it  was 
discovered  he  had  broken  a  couple  of  ribs,  and 
received  some  other  injuries  when  he  had  fallen 


CbecftmatcJ).  245 

back  over  the  cliff.  His  not  revealing  this 
sooner,  could  only  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact, 
that  he  had  not  wished  to  delay  their  journey 
thither.  So  it  came  about  that  he  was  no 
better  than  a  helpless  cripple  for  some  weeks. 
During  that  time  he  was  waited  upon  by  a  cer- 
tain fair-haired  young  lady,  who  seemed  to  take 
a  very  particular  interest  in  him.  She  was  a 
very  beautiful,  as  well  as  a  noble-minded  girl ; 
and  there  was  something  in  the  life  of  this  man 
that  had  attracted  her.  That  he  was  poor,  and 
that  she  was  very  rich,  was  a  disturbing  element 
in  this  unselfish  girl's  dreams  ;  had  their  posi- 
tions been  reversed  she  thought,  then  he  might 
have  thought  of  her. 

But  trust  another  woman  for  finding  out  such 
things,  for  Mrs.  Tredennis  discovered  her 
secret ;  and,  perhaps,  it  was  only  safe  and  wise 
to  tell  her  a  little  of  the  history  of  the  past, 
just  enough  to  let  her  understand  that  it  was 
dead  and  done  with,  and  would  clear  the  way 
for  a  brighter  future.  Then,  like  a  sensible 
woman,  Mrs.  Tredennis  let  things  take  their 
natural  course. 

As  for  Dick,  being  only  an  ordinary  mortal, 
but  a  healthy  one  withal,  the  revealing  of  the 
truth,  such  as  it  was,  soothed  and  healed  his 
outraged  sense  of  justice.  A  calmer  and  more 
sensible  view  of  things,  put  an  end  to  what  now 
seemed  to  have  been  incipient  madness.  In 
nine  cases  out  of  ten — and  Dick's  was  one  of 
the  nine — it  is  the  torture  of   uncertainty   that 


246  XLbe  ^cviVs  HMasgrounO. 

does  all  the  mischief ;  but  he  proved  his  words 
in  that  he  could  face  the  truth. 

Now  it  needs  no  psychologist  to  explain  how 
that  the  past  effectually  disposed  of,  there  grew 
up  in  his  heart  with  his  fresh  faith  in  human 
nature,  a  feeling  which,  if  it  were  not  love  in 
the  old,  selfish,  and  passionate  sense,  was  one 
that  was  pure  and  wholesome.  And  the  girl 
who  would  not  have  exchanged  her  self-consti- 
tuted position  as  his  devoted  nurse,  for  all  the 
wealth  she  was  mistress  of,  was  the  object  of 
it. 

There  are  three  great  factors  that  shape  the 
course  of  all  mundane  affairs  :  and  they  are 
time  ;  that  comprehensive  quality  we  are  pleased 
to  call  human  nature  ;  and  opportune  action  ; 
and  it  is  perhaps  needless  to  say,  they  brought 
about  a  certain  happy  consummation. 

The  hills  are  old,  but  love  is  older  still ;  the 
former  become  worn  and  scarred  by  the  hand 
of  Time,  and  change  the  course  of  rivers ;  but 
the  ways  of  the  little  blind  god  are  always  the 
same. 

THE  END, 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

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